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Table 5 Distribution and statistics summary by age group, sex, and birth tertile

From: Darwinian Selection Discriminates Young Athletes: the Relative Age Effect in Relation to Sporting Performance

Age

Sex

Chi-squared statistics

Absolute distribution (N)

Relative distribution (%) (95% CI)

 

Χ2

P value

Total

T1

T2

T3

T1

T2

T3

V

≤ 6

Both

129.8

< 0.001

3528

1435

1281

812

40.7 (39.1–42.3)

36.3 (34.7–37.9)

23.0 (21.7–24.4)

0.31

Male

91.3

< 0.001

1859

757

704

398

40.7 (38.5–43.0)

37.9 (35.7–40.1)

21.4 (19.6–23.3)

0.33

Female

45.9

< 0.001

1668

678

577

413

40.6 (38.3–43.0)

34.6 (32.3–36.9)

24.8 (22.7–26.9)

0.29

7–8

Both

90.2

< 0.001

7336

2822

2509

2005

38.5 (37.4–39.6)

34.2 (33.1–35.3)

27.3 (26.3–28.4)

0.24

Male

46.8

< 0.001

3788

1464

1270

1054

38.6 (37.1–40.2)

33.5 (32.0–35.0)

27.8 (26.4–29.3)

0.24

Female

44.4

< 0.001

3544

1355

1238

951

38.2 (36.6–39.8)

34.9 (33.4–36.5)

26.8 (25.4–28.3)

0.24

9–10

Both

29.8

< 0.001

11 125

3967

3955

3203

35.7 (34.8–36.6)

35.6 (34.7–36.4)

28.9 (28.0–29.6)

0.16

Male

14.5

< 0.001

5695

2036

2010

1649

35.8 (34.5–37.0)

35.3 (34.1–36.5)

29.0 (27.8–30.1)

0.16

Female

15.9

< 0.001

5425

1931

1942

1552

35.6 (34.3–36.8)

35.8 (34.5–37.1)

28.6 (27.4–29.8)

0.17

11–15

Both

232.1

< 0.001

39 068

14 447

13 755

10 866

37.0 (36.5–37.5)

35.2 (34.7–35.7)

27.8 (27.4–28.3)

0.20

Male

119.9

< 0.001

20 998

7739

7416

5843

36.9 (36.2–37.5)

35.3 (34.7–36.0)

27.8 (27.2–28.5)

0.19

Female

113.3

< 0.001

18 064

6708

6336

5020

37.1 (36.4–37.8)

35.1 (34.4–35.8)

27.8 (27.1–28.5)

0.20

16–20

Both

18.2

< 0.001

41 316

14 873

14 574

11 869

36.0 (35.5–36.5)

35.3 (34.8–35.7)

28.7 (28.3–29.2)

0.10

Male

40.6

< 0.001

30 363

10 793

10 749

8821

35.5 (35.0–36.1)

35.4 (34.9–35.9)

29.1 (28.5–29.6)

0.14

Female

49.9

< 0.001

10 944

4077

3819

3048

37.3 (36.5–38.2)

34.9 (34.0–35.8)

27.8 (27.0–28.7)

0.18

21–39

Both

19.0

< 0.001

66 230

24 345

22 441

19 444

36.8 (36.4–37.1)

33.9 (33.5–34.2)

29.3 (29.0–29.7)

0.09

Male

0.8

0.686

49 220

17 715

16 746

14 759

36.0 (35.6–36.4)

34.0 (33.6–34.4)

30.0 (29.6–30.4)

0.04

Female

76.7

< 0.001

16 995

6627

5691

4677

39.0 (38.3–39.7)

33.5 (32.8–34.2)

27.5 (26.9–28.2)

0.18

≥ 40

Both

3.5

0.174

81 756

29 173

27 383

25 200

35.7 (35.4–36.0)

33.5 (33.2–33.8)

30.8 (30.5–31.1)

0.06

Male

1.3

0.536

55 721

19 813

18 669

17 239

35.6 (35.2–36.0)

33.5 (33.1–33.9)

30.9 (30.6–31.3)

0.05

Female

4.3

0.114

25 987

9354

8691

7942

36.0 (35.4–36.6)

33.4 (32.8–34.0)

30.6 (30.0–31.1)

0.08

All

Both

205.0

< 0.001

244 558

89 036

83 781

71 741

36.4 (36.2–36.6)

34.3 (34.1–34.4)

29.3 (29.2–29.5)

0.10

Male

61.1

< 0.001

164 666

59 269

56 492

48 905

36.0 (35.8–36.2)

34.3 (34.1–34.4)

29.7 (29.5–29.9)

0.16

Female

192.9

< 0.001

80 077

29 752

27 521

22 804

37.3 (36.9–37.6)

34.1 (33.8–34.5)

28.6 (28.3–28.9)

0.12

  1. Χ2 chi-squared statistic, V effect size, Cramer’s V
  2. Parent population (national birth statistics) was set at expected distribution in chi-squared test