Body Mass Index, Relative Body Fat and Physical Performance of Hungarian Roma Boys

The aim of the present comparison of Roma and non-Roma prepubertal boys was to analyse if there were differences in some anthropometric measures and in running performance to see if Roma children fall behind their non-Roma peers in growth and development, and if so, to what extent. Until now no larger child sample of exclusively Roma ethnicity has been investigated concerning their basic somatic and motor performance attributes. Kinanthropometric data collection was carried out in 1,149 volunteer Roma boys aged between 7 and 14. For a control group exactly the same number of non-Roma subjects was selected randomly from each age group of the same region. Height, body mass, BMI, relative body fat content and the time scores in 30m dash and 1,200m run were compared. The Roma children were found to be significantly shorter and lighter than their non-Roma peers. There were no consistent differences between the BMI means, but relative body fat content was consistently greater in the Roma sample. The running performances were better in the non-Roma boys. The greater relative fat content and also the poorer running scores of the Roma children were attributed to a more hypoactive lifestyle and qualitative and quantitative dietary faults. Since the proportion of GDP that might be used for governmental welfare protection keeps being limited, their necessary integration is getting increasingly difficult. Instead of an educational, social and economic catch-up process further issues of segregation can be predicted.