FULL TEXT - Antropomotoryka

NR 47
AN TRO PO MO TO RY KA
2009
THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE TRANSFORMATION
AND INTER-GENERATIONAL CHANGEABILITY
OF SOMATIC AND MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
IN CRACOVIAN STUDENTS
PRZEMIANY SPOŁECZNE A MIĘDZYPOKOLENIOWA
ZMIENNOŚĆ ROZWOJU SOMATYCZNEGO
I MOTORYCZNEGO KRAKOWSKICH STUDENTÓW
Edward Mleczko*, Wacław Mirek**
** Prof. Dr. habil., Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, University School of Physical Education, Cracow, Poland
** Dr., Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, University School of Physical Education, Cracow, Poland
Key words: Cracovian students, long-term tendencies of the changes, social background,
place of residence, the level of the somatic and motor development
Słowa kluczowe: krakowscy studenci, tendencje zmian długookresowych, środowisko
społeczne, miejsce zamieszkania, poziom zmian somatycznych i motorycznych
SUMMARY • STRESZCZENIE
The aim of this research was the attempt to find similarity between range and inter-generational changes
directions in groups of different social background (intelligentsia, workers’, peasant) among the students of
seven Cracovian public high schools, as well as long-term tendencies of changes in their somatic and motor
level. The obtained results have proved the escalation of disadvantageous changes, caused by translation from
lower to upper social group of the Polish youth. The researches involved mainly youth of urban areas and
intelligentsia background. No inter-generational changes have been found in somatic and motor development
level between students of various social backgrounds, which might be described mathematically.
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Celem badań było znalezienie podobieństw w zakresie i kierunku zmian międzypokoleniowych u studentów
siedmiu państwowych wyższych uczelni Krakowa, wywodzących się z różnych środowisk społecznych (inteligencja,
robotnicy, chłopi) oraz długookresowych tendencji przemian ich budowy somatycznej i poziomu sprawności motorycznej. Na podstawie analizy wyników badań stwierdzono nasilenie niekorzystnych zmian, których źródeł należy
upatrywać w przemieszczaniu się polskiej młodzieży ze środowisk o niższym statusie społecznym do wyższych
warstw społeczeństwa. Badaniami objęto głównie młodych ludzi z obszarów miejskich i środowisk inteligenckich.
W przypadku studentów reprezentujących różne środowiska społeczne nie odnotowano żadnych międzypokoleniowych zmian poziomu rozwoju somatycznego i ruchowego, które mogłyby zostać opisane matematycznie.
Introduction
Very often the academic students from Poland were
the subject of the researches undertaken by: sociologists, educationalists, psychologists, biologists, sport
and physical education theoreticians recently also by
kinesiologists (anthropomotoric scientists). Undoubtedly
the reason is the belief that the students are the final
group in the educational system, before undertaking
entirely mature professional and social roles. Moreover,
– 37 –
Edward Mleczko, Wacław Mirek
apart from their social backgrounds, the academy graduates are the base of Polish intelligentsia.
It is often believed that just the intelligentsia represents
the most valuable and desired social features and values
system [1]. In last few years the level of somatic and motor
development has been more and more perceived as a part
of the social features and values system1. The researches
of this problem were intensively undertaken amongst
Cracovian academic students [2, 3, 4, 5]. Using anthropological methods, the socially-based gradient value and
long-term tendency of the somatic and motor development
level were defined. In some cases the differences of the
subjects under research were pointed out [3, 6].
The researches were aimed at answering the following question:
– Is there any correlation between the long-term
changes dynamism of social background composition and the rate of somatic and motor development
in Cracovian students?
Data processing methods. The resources were estimated with basic statistic methods. The results of the
researches were compared to those conducted 35 and
25 years ago [2, 3] while environmental background and
motor development – to those described 25 year ago [3].
Methods
Results
The subjects. In the academic year 1995/96 in Cracow
the researches of the somatic and motor development
level, physical activity intensity and social-economic
status were undertaken. It involved the group of students from 7 state-owned universities2. From each university 15% of male and female training groups were
drawn. The students, total number of which equalled
to 3926 (2094 females and 1832 males), were chosen
from the 1st and 2nd years of study.
The items under research. The results concerned:
− the students’, social background status (intelligentsia, workers, peasant),
− place of residence ( big town > 25 000 residents,
small town < 25 000 residents, country),
− the basic somatic characteristics (the height and
body mass, fat mass, lean body mass),
− the motor fitness measured by S. Pilicz – test [7]
(“Heavy medical ball forethrow over the head – 2 kg
women, “envelope race”– 5 × 3 m, standing jump –
both legs bound),
1. Environmental background
The analysis of the presented results shows that at the
end 20th century ¾ of Cracovian students came from
big towns and small towns (39.2% and 36.7%, respectively). Relatively few came from the country (24.5%
male and 23.6% female students). It appeared that at
Male
Female
100%
100%
90%
80%
80%
70%
60%
60%
50%
40%
40%
20%
30%
20%
0%
10%
0%
PK
AR
CM
UJ
AGH
AE
AP
total
-
AR
CM
country
UJ
AGH
small town
AE
AP
Totalmen
big town
Fig. 1. The place of students’ (females and males) residence according to educational profile (%)
Strongly marked in the American conception of the physical ability researches focused on health (“Health-related fitness”, HRF).
2
Students from Academy of Physical Education were excluded because
of the different physical education programme. Abbreviations: Jagiellonian
1
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PK
University (UJ), University of Technology (PK), University of Mining
and Metallurgy (AGH), Collegium Medicum UJ (CMUJ), University of
Pedagogy (AP), University of Agriculture (AR), University of Economics
(AE).
– 38 –
The social structure transformation and inter-generational changeability of somatic and motor development...
the end of 20th century most of the Cracovian students
had the urban background and only every fourth student were descended of peasant stock. The similar
proportions of the environmental background structure of the Cracovian students were described in the
earlier researches [3, 4]. The more detailed research
showed the increasing tendency amongst the urban
youth to study at the Jagiellonian University (Collegium
Medicum – Medical Academy) and decreasing tendency amongst rural youth to study at the University
of Agriculture. In both universities, the slight increase
of the rural students’ number had been noticed. The
research was aimed to at describing the social position
of the students applying to Cracovian universities.
2. The social background of the students under
research
The analysis of collected data shows the great disproportions between numbers of students with intelligen-
tsia, working class and peasant background (69.5%,
26.3% and 4.3%, respectively). A comparison of the
research results with those from 25 years ago [3, 4]
unveils the decrease of relative number of students with
the peasant backgrounds (about 14%), the stabilization
of the students number with worker’s backgrounds, the
significant increase of number of students with intelligentsia background.
The results presented in Table 1 show that there exists some relation between students’ place of residence
and their social background. The smaller the town, the
more students of peasant background and the less students of intelligentsia background. It should be noticed
that the group of students from the country showed the
peasant background in only 12.9%, while 41.5% come
from working class and 45.6% – from intelligentsia. The
disadvantageous tendencies of reducing the number of
students with the peasant background appeared within
some study profiles. As compared to the research from
25 years ago [3], at the end of 20th century there were
Table 1. Proportional students’ background structure according to the place of residence
Background
Place
of residence
Sex
Intelligentsia (%)
F*
43.2
Workers (%)
44.6
Country
48.7
F
69.5
41.5
37.6
74.8
F
80.6
25.7
22.9
82.6
Total (%)
Abbreviations: * W– female
17.8
16.7
69.5
26.3
4.2
100
80
80
-
%
%
60
40
40
20
20
0
0
CMUJ
UJ
AGH
AE
WSP
PK
AR
CMUJ
intelligentsia
-
100
Male
60
-
100
** M – male
100
AR
0.7
0.7
Female
PK
100
0.5
81.6
M
2.4
2.3
18.9
Big town
100
2.5
71.9
M
12.9
13.7
28
Small town
Total (%)
12.2
45.6
M**
Peasants (%)
Fig. 2. The social background of students according to the profile of studies (%)
– 39 –
UJ
workers
AGH
AE
peasant
WSP
Edward Mleczko, Wacław Mirek
Table 2. Statistical data of the chosen somatic traits and motor skills and standardized differences inter-group of those traits between
the researched in 1962 and 1972 and those from the presently researched
Traits
Body
height
Body
mass
Women
The Author and years
of research
Men
–
x
SD
WU
–
x
SD
WU
A. Łukowska [2]
159.6
–
–0.8
–
–
–
E. Kolarczyk [3]
161.0
5.41
–0.6
174.3
6.22
–0.5
The present research 1997
164.2
5.63
–
177.6
6.39
–
A. Łukowska [2]
55.8
–
–0.2
–
–
–
E. Kolarczyk [3]
56.6
6.85
–0.1
66.9
7.57
–0.5
The present research 1997
57.3
7.73
–
71.7
9.90
–
E. Kolarczyk [3]
38.9
–
–0.6
51.8
–
–0.7
The present research 1997
42.6
6.27
–
56.8
7.46
–
E. Kolarczyk [3]
17.7
–
0.6
15.1
–
0.04
The present research 1997
14.7
4.94
–
14.9
5.09
–
E. Kolarczyk [3]
32.5
2.5
–1.9
29.4
2.33
–2.2
The present research 1997
28.6
2.0
–
25.6
1.74
–
E. Kolarczyk [3]
154.8
18.83
–0.85
215.9
23.22
–0.35
The present research 1997
170.9
18.82
–
223.5
21.85
–
E. Kolarczyk [3]
5.5
0.86
–0.46
–
–
–
The present research 1997
6.0
1.09
–
8.6
1.63
–
Lean body mass
Body fat mass
„The envelope race”
Standing jump
Medicine ball throw
2 kg
Abbreviation: WU = the indexes of normalized differences
30% less students with the peasant background taking
agriculture study (Fig. 2).
The question can be asked whether this negative
tendency of decreasing the share of students with
peasant background might be somehow linked with the
process of biological development of these students?
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3. The inter-generational changeability of the somatic
and motor development level
As the data show, one may observe the positive intergenerational changes in both sexes. The body height
increased by 1.3 cm every decade, and body mass –
by 1.9 kg every decade. The females show the stable
tendency in the body mass growth caused probably by
slim figure tendency [1, 8]. The comparative analysis of
the physical fitness shows the more positive tendencies
of the inter-generational changes than the somatic features. It can be proved by the value of the normalized
differences indexes. The researches did not enable de-
termining the numerical relation between students’ social background and long-term changes in their somatic
and motor development.
Summary
The analysis of researches results revealed great differences in the Cracovian students’ social groups at the
end of the 20th century. It may be perceived as the result of the social-economical changes which took place
during the system transformation. At the end of the 20th
century the majority of students came from the families
of the high social-economical standards; the share of
students from workers background amounted to 26.3%,
while those of peasant background – to 4.2%. The present research shows the dramatic situation of the youth
from the country which constitutes the minority of the
future intelligentsia. The situation may evoke the numerous discussions. The problem probably lies in the
financial situation of families from the country. The real-
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The social structure transformation and inter-generational changeability of somatic and motor development...
ity shows that the student is a great financial burden for
parents. It can be the reason why so few of them apply
to the university comparing to student whose permanent
residence is Cracow or their families are able to supply
sufficient financial support. The system transformation
most negatively influenced over the poor families. Apart
from the subject of this research, there is no basis for
connecting the described tendencies with the noticed
set-back of the secular trend of groups standing higher
in the social hierarchy, as revealed in other researches
[6, 8]. Except for the women body mass, very intensive
inter-generational changes of the motor fitness and basic somatic development level were observed. These
facts show the improvement in the standard of living of
the families of 95 % Cracovian students.
Conclusions
1. The presented research results revealed the
negative transformation of the social structure of
Cracovian students (decreasing the share of the
youth from workers’ and peasant background in the
total students’ population).
2. The presented researches did not enable determining the numerical relation between Cracovian
students’ social background and long-term (intergenerational) changes in their somatic and motor
development.
LITERATURE • PIŚMIENNICTWO
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[6]
[7]
[8]
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[5]
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sprawności i wydolności fizycznej dzieci i młodzieży.
Warszawa, AWF, 1988.
Łukowska A: Z badań nad sprawnością fizyczną studentek
WSWF i UJ na przestrzeni lat 1962–65, Kultura Fizyczna,
1968; 4: 206–210.
Kolarczyk E: Poziom rozwoju biologicznego oraz sprawność fizyczna studentek i studentów I roku uczelni Krakowa. Doctor’s thesis, Kraków, AWF, 1977.
Mleczko M: Budowa ciała i sprawność fizyczna młodzieży
akademickiej I roku studiów w Krakowie w świetle czynników środowiska społecznego. Doctor’s thesis, Kraków,
AWF, 1978.
Mirek W: Profil studiów, wybrane modyfikatory społeczno-
– 41 –
-kulturowe i tryb życia jako czynniki różnicujące poziom
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