Relationship between digit ratio (2D:4D) and anaerobic-based physical fitness tests in children

Abstract

According to studies in digit ratio (2D:4D) field, 2D:4D primarily consists of the index and ring finger ratios. The growth of 2D:4D started in the mother’s womb and affected by the number of sexual hormones of testosterone and oestrogen secretion, as low 2D:4D is associated with higher testosterone content. Thus, this leads to greater potential to compete in various sports and physical fitness with basis of testosterone assisting in muscle and human body development. However, findings regarding the relationship between 2D:4D and anaerobic fitness in younger populations can be rare and inconsistent. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of low and high 2D:4D towards anaerobic physical fitness. Total 582 children of male and female with age range from 10 to 12 years old participated in this study. In order to compute the ratio, both hands were scanned and measured, and the hand grip strength test and standing broad jump test were chosen as the test battery. The results showed that due to sexual dimorphism, male children shown lower 2D:4D than female children (p < 0.001). There was a significant connection between low and high 2D:4D in RL HGS for both genders (p < 0.001), as well as in SBJ (p < 0.001). It appears that low 2D:4D male and female groups performed significantly better than the high 2D:4D group. In conclusion, low 2D:4D is associated with performance on anaerobic fitness tests. In order to leverage the capabilities of low 2D:4D as a potential signal for classifying young athletes into sports based on their physical fitness domain, future research should include a greater emphasis on comprehensive anaerobic and aerobic-based fitness tests.