PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE FIRSTYEAR STUDENTS OF HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND ITS FORMING FACTORS

Aim. To systematize the results of recently completed research of the first-year students' physical development. Material and Methods. The methods and results of physical development research of the first-year students of the domestic and foreign higher educational institutions have been analyzed; the physical development of students has been compared with regional (1996-2002) and state (2013) standards for Ukrainian youth. Results and Discussion. Physical development of the firstyear students as an informative indicator of their health and adaptation to studying forms against a background of biological maturation and asthenia of youth. The tendency to increase of height by constant body weight of 17-yearold boys and 16-year-old girls and to decrease of weight of 17-year-old girls, as well as age and sex differences of maturation and physical development dynamics in different periods of youth are genetically and biologically determined and related to socio-economic, climatic and geographic, ethno- and socio-cultural features of each regions. The height of first-year male students, body weight of boys and girls generally outperform the state standards for physical development of Ukrainian 17-years-old boys by the lower height of girls against the background of asthenia processes. These obviously determine the prevailing of normostenic somatotype in boys and hypersthenic somatotype in girls of some higher educational institutions. The physical development of students, which is marked by certain features in universities in different regions, is depending on their gender (higher physical development in all parameters in boys than in girls), somatotype, place of residence (higher in urban residents), type of academic institution (more harmonious in athletes with better physical training) and environmental factors (higher in relatively clean areas). Conclusions. The physical development of first-year students is higher, except the height of girls, than state standards of Ukrainian 17-year-old boys, and depends on biological, social and environmental factors. The primary tasks of further research on the effects of nutrition, endemic and environmental factors on the physical development of students and the development of its regional age and sex standards at intervals of one year are formulated. Keywords: first-year students, physical development, assessment methods