Comparisons of body size and form among ethnic groups of United States college men.

Original data were collected during 1979-1982 on 199 American Black and 99 American White college men attending the University of South Carolina. Statistics from these data are presented for 11 measures of body size, 6 measures of body form, and 5 measures of skinfold thickness and body composition. Each variable is described for a) the total samples of South Carolina Black and White college men, and b) three more homogeneous subgroups of college men designated Afro-Black, Afro-Black/Amerind, and Northwest European White. University of South Carolina male students are compared with other groups of United States college men and Selective Service registrants studied during the 1940's and 1950's. It is found: means for standing height of men having Afro-Black and Northwest European White ancestries exceeded the mean for standing height of peers with mixed Afro-Black/Amerind ancestry, lower limb height in percentage of sitting height, on average, was greater for Black college men than for White peers and means for body weight and standing height were higher on South Carolina Black and White college men measured during 1979-1982 than on college men measured in Kansas during the 1940's, and United States Selective Service registrants measured during the 1950's.

Skin color comparisons among ethnic groups of college men.

Reflectance readings of skin color were taken on the medial aspect of the left upper arm. The subjects were United States college men between ages 18 and 27 years attending the University of South Carolina. Using the DSL 99 Reflectance Spectrophotometer, readings were obtained under controlled conditions at five settings (601, 603, 605, 607, 609). Ethnic groups studied included young men of 1) Northwest European White ancestry, 2) West African Black ancestry, and 3) Afro-Black/Amerind ancestry. Means and variability statistics serve to describe the skin color distributions. Means were near 12 and 32 for filters 601 and 609 on men of West African Black ancestry, with corresponding means near 36 and 64 on men of Northwest European White ancestry. There was no overlapping of comparable frequency distributions from these two ethnic groups. Significance tests at P = .01 allowed acceptance of the hypothesis that skin color on the medial arm surface was darker for young men of Afro-Black ancestry than for those of 75% Afro-Black ancestry and 25% Amerind ancestry. Means from original data were compared with means from earlier studies on black and white males in Africa, America, and Europe.

Somatic findings at age 9 years on three ethnic groups of Nigerian urban and rural boys.

Somatic data were collected in 1983 on 577 Nigerian boys age 9 years drawn from Ibo, Yoruba, and Hausa ethnic groups living in urban and rural locations. On each subgroup, measures of body size, body form, and body composition were analysed for central tendency and variability. From urban samples, means for standing height and body weight were highest on Ibo boys, intermediate on Yoruba boys, and lowest on Hausa boys. Ibo urban boys, on average, were larger than their rural peers by 5.9 cm in standing height, 3.3 kg in body weight, and near 1.5 cm in shoulder width, arm girth, and calf girth. From pooled urban and rural subgroups, calf girth relative to lower limb height was near 40% on Ibo boys, 39% on Yoruba boys, and 38% on Hausa boys. From the three ethnic groups combined, means for thickness of skin and subcutaneous tissue on the arm and abdomen were higher on urban than rural boys. Composite means for 494 Nigerian Ibo and Yoruba urban and rural boys were lower than means for 208 United States Black boys measured during 1974-1977 in Richland County, South Carolina, by 1.7 cm in standing height, 3.0 kg in body weight, and near 1.5 cm in arm girth and calf girth.

Complication and comparison of averages for standing height at late childhood ages on United States boys of several ethnic groups studied between 1875 and 1980.

Averages for standing height are brought together at late childhood ages on boys of different ethnic groups studied in the United States during the last 100 years. More than 80 averages are assembled at each of two ages (9 years and 11 years). Among the groups represented are boys having the following ancestries: Afro-Black, Amerind, Chinese, Japanese, Eskimo, Mexican, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Finnish, German, Italian, British, and Dutch. Suffice to cite examples of findings on boys age 11 years. United States Black boys studied during the period 1967-1978 were taller than those studied during 1886-1898 by 11.4 cm, or 8.6%. Average standing heights in the 1930s were near 134 cm for Pueblo boys; near 139 cm for boys whose progenitors were Navajo, Mexican, or Polish; and near 142 cm for boys of Finnish ancestry. In the 1950s, average standing heights were near 140 cm, 144 cm, and 146 cm, respectively, on United States boys of Japanese, Italian, and Dutch ancestries. Afro-Black and Amerind similarities and dissimilarities in the 1960s are illustrated by averages near 140 cm on Black and Chippewa groups in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, and near 144 cm on Black and Blackfeet groups in Ohio and Montana. In some instances, averages are compared for upper and lower socioeconomic subgroups, and for urban and rural subgroups.

Findings on stature from two series of longitudinal measures taken 25 years apart.

Data for this study were seriatim measures of stature on United States youths of North European ancestry. They were gathered between 1925 and 1932 in Massachusetts and between 1950 and 1957 in Iowa. Statistics from size and velocity analyses for each period were obtained and compared. At age 10 years, mean stature of the 1950-1957 youths exceeded that of the 1925-1932 youths by more than 5.0 cm. It was deduced that less than 2.0 cm of this amount arose from a difference in socioeconomic composition of the samples, and upwards of 3.0 cm from secular increase. In both periods, annual velocity means increased between ages 9 years and 12 years for females and between 11 years and 14 years for males. These increases were greater from the velocity data for 1950-1957 than for 1925-1932. No predictive relationship was found between stature at a pre-adolescent age and early occurrence of adolescent peak velocity for stature.

An addendum on presence and absence of a mid-childhood spurt in somatic dimensions.

Tanner and Cameron (1980) recently reported analyses of velocity data on London children for standing height, body weight, arm girth, calf girth, and two measures of skinfold thickness. Their purpose was to determine whether in mid-childhood (some time between ages six and nine years) these variables underwent slight "acceleration and deceleration." The present report supplements this with velocity findings on Iowa City children for standing height, body weight, chest girth, arm girth, calf girth, and hip width. The London study showed no evidence of a mid-childhood spurt in standing height of girls, and clear evidence of a mid-childhood spurt in calf girth of boys. The Iowa City measures confirm the finding for standing height, but not that for calf girth. Other instances of agreement and discrepancy regarding a mid-childhood spurt are discussed, and additional relevant findings presented. The author joins Tanner and Cameron (1980) in recognizing the difficulties of reducing measurement and statistical error sufficiently to accept or reject the occurrence of mid-childhood somatic spurts.

Early seriatim research on human somatic growth.

Biological knowledge is synthesized from human longitudinal data on individuals measured between 1759 and 1915. The variables treated are stature, body weight, head girth, and chest girth. Seriatim records are assembled from early studies in Austria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, and the United States. Analyses are made for somatic size and gain during infancy, childhood, adolescence, and the postnatal span from birth to early adulthood. Findings pertain to differences among individuals during small and large portions of ontogeny, sex differences in body dimensions and growth rates, and differences among variables in the pattern of size-on-age curves for the period between birth and early adulthood.

Relationship of lower limb height to sitting height in black populations of Africa and the United States.

This article examines a recently reported generalization. Materials from more than a score of invetigations are drawn upon. These materials show there is not a substantial research base for the claim that interbreeding in the United States between black people of African ancestry and white people of European ancestry has resulted in increased lower limb height relative to sitting height.

Comparative findings on body size of children and youths living at urban centers and in rural areas.

The focus of this paper is on rural-urban differences in human body size during the period between ages 8 years and 15 years. Groups of village and city residents are compared on standing height, body weight, and other somatic dimensions. Wide variation is found: from data collected during 1955--1972, urban children and youths in Costa Rica, Finland, Jamaica, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and South Africa are larger than their rural coevals by more than 3.0 cm in standing height, and 2.0 kg in body weight; while from measures taken during 1889--1910, urban children and youths in East Germany and England are smaller than their rural peers by 1.2 cm to 2.3 cm in standing height, and 0.6 kg to 0.8 kg in body weight. Intermediate differences characterize groups in Bulgaria, France, Ghana, Italy, Japan, Surinam, the Soviet Union, and the United States.

Body size and form of children of predominantly black ancestry living in West and Central Africa, North and South America, and the West Indies.

Stature, sitting height, hip width, arm and calf circumferences and body weight have been measured in black children of Richland County, South Carolina. Lower limb height and three indices of body shape were obtained from the measurements. Sample size exceeded 200 for each of five age-sex groups representing girls and boys aged 6 years, girls and boys aged 9 years, and boys aged 11 years. Comparisons are made with findings from previous research on children of predominantly black ancestry living in west and central Africa, the West Indies, and North, Central and South America. Black children of Richland County measured during 1974--77 are taller than black children studied since 1960 in Angola, Chad, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, Anguilla, Barbados, Cuba, Guyana, Jamaica, Nevis, St. Kitts, St. Vincent, and Surinam. Children of well-to-do black families in Accra and Ibadan are no taller or heavier than black children of Richland County taken without regard to socio-economic status. In hip width, averages for Richland County black children are larger than those for children of the Hutu and Yoruba tribes; in arm girth they are larger than children of the Hutu and Tutsi tribes. Age changes and group differences are reported for hip width relative to lower limb height, and lower limb height relative to sitting height. During childhood, the hip/lower limb index decreases, and the lower limb/sitting height index increases. Almost identical hip/lower limb indices characterize black populations in Africa, Cuba, and the United States.

Secular change in sitting height and lower limb height of children, youths, and young adults of Afro-black, European, and Japanese ancestry.

During a large part of the last 100 years many human populations in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America have increased in standing height. The amount of increase has risen with age from infancy to mid-adolescence, and diminished with age from mid-adolescence to early adulthood. In the present paper standing height is broken into two components and-for American black, American white, and Japanese groups-each component is found to (1) show substantial secular increase, and (2) yield a trend of quantitative difference similar to that of standing height. Average sitting height of Japanese males increased during the 33 years between 1937 and 1970 by 2.5 cm at age 8 years, 4.1 cm at age 14 years, and 2.9 cm at age 16 years; corresponding values for lower limb height were 3.7 cm, 5.3 cm, and 3.9 cm. During the 80 years following 1881, American white females ages 9 years and 13 years living in the Midwest increased in average sitting height by 4.6 cm and 5.4 cm, and in average lower limb height by 4.9 cm and 5.2 cm. For both dimensions of each racial group, secular change is greater at mid-adolescence than in early adulthood.

Body size and form of black and white female youths measured during 1974-1975 at Columbia, South Carolina.

From original data at age 13 years on 386 North American females (201 black and 185 white), statistics are presented for 10 somatic variables. The 2 ethnic groups yield similar means for standing height, arm girth, and leg girth; the black females, contrasted with their white peers, are shorter in sitting height, longer in lower limb height, and narrower in hip width. The Columbia subjects are compared with black and white females studied in North America several decades ago, and with black and white females studied recently in other parts of North America and in Australia, Europe, Africa, and the Lesser Antilles.