Anthropologiai Közlemények 30. (1986)

1986 / 1-2. füzet - I. Szmodis - J. Mészáros: Height-dependent distribution of somatotype components in young adults

Anthrop. Közi. 30; 191-196. (1986) HEIGHT-DEPENDENT DISTRIBUTION OF SOMATOTYPE COMPONENTS IN YOUNG ADULTS I. Szmodis and J. Mészáros Central Sport School, Budapest, Hungary; Department of Medicine, Hungarian University of Physical Education, Budapest, Hungary Abstract: The purpose of the present work was to get some insight into the problem of whether or not somatotype components depended on stature in young adults of an above average level of habitual physical activity. The subjects of the study were 669 females and 710 males who applied for admission to the Budapest University of Physical Education (Magyar Testnevelési Főiskola) between 1977 and 1983 inclusive. Stature strata were selected to include approximately similar numbers of subjects (dissimilar intervals). Somatotype component distribution in the respective strata of stature was studied by histograms and correlation coefficients. Both criteria evidenced that somatotype components were essentially independent of body height. An additional result of the distribution analysis was that mesomorphy and ectomorphy were distributed approximately normally in every stratum of stature and in both sexes while the distribution of endomorphy in every height stratum was skewed slightly towards the Larger values in this material. Key words: Height-dependent distribution, Somatotype, Young adults. Introduction Stature is recognized to be among the most important dimensions of the body. It is often a basis of reference for derived measures and several of the methods of describing human physique or types of physique use it either on its own or imbedded into complex indices. Somatotyping is no exception to this rule; stature is used as an entry for both the second and third components (Carter and Heath 1971). The purpose of the present study was to find out whether or not tall and short people could display the same variability of physique, or — in other words — whether the in­dividuals’ stature restricted the range of possible somatotypes. Material and Methods The young women and men whose data are summarized in Table 1 were students applying for admission to the Testnevelési Főiskola, the Hungarian university of physical education, between the years 1977 and 1983 inclusively. Since data for 1978 were ex­cluded for technical reasons, seven cohorts in all were studied, none of which were stat­istically different in mean stature, body mass or in the rest of the dimensions used to pro­duce somatotype components. Note, please, that the subpopulation from which this Table 1. The number of applicants per year 669 710 Females Year Males 116 1977 95 92 1979 120 121 1980 150 119 1981 118 112 1982 114 109 1983 113 191

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