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

Abstract

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.

Somatic comparisons: Baiga and Gond males of Madhya Pradesh, India

“…The skelic index, on average, increases continuously from early childhood to midadolescence and then decreases slowly in the late adolescent years (Sterling, 1928;Herskovits, 1930;Meredith and Knott, 1938;Verghese et al, 1969;Krogman, 1970;Hamill et al, 1973;Malina et al, 1974;Meredith and Spurgeon, 1976;Spurgeon et al, 1978). Mean skelic indices for the Gaddis Rajput and All-India samples consistently follow this pattern.…”

Secular change: Somatic comparisons of urban and rural black male children and youths living in central South Carolina

“…Anthropometric methods, age detennination, and procedures followed in studies of Columbia City males (Spurgeon et al, 1978;Spurgeon and Meredith, 1979) were identical to those of the present study. A free lunch program was also available to the Columbia City boys, and nearly all participated in the program.…”

“…When the initial determinations did not satisfy the applicable criterion, two additional measurements were made, with the value taken to represent the dimension being either the average of the four records or, in instances of an obvious misreading of the metric scale, the average of the homogenous three (Meredith, 1936). The measurements were: standing height, sitting height, upper limb length, estimated lower limb length (standing height-sitting -sitting height), hip width, arm girth, calf girth, and body weight (Spurgeon et al, 1978). Upper limb length and triceps and abdominal skinfold measures were not available for the Columbia City boys.…”

“…It complements an earlier work on females age 9 years from the same region (Robinson and Spurgeon, 1989). The objectives of the report are: (1) to obtain and analyze data on body size and form and skinfold thicknesses of South Carolina black males ages 6, 9, and 15 years in Calhoun County; (2) to determine the direction and magnitude of differences in body size and body form among the Calhoun County samples and comparable groups of black males studied in urban Columbia City, South Carolina, during 1974Carolina, during -1977 (Spurgeon et al, 1978; Spurgeon and Meredith, 1979); (3) to provide estimates of secular increase during this century from the Calhoun County data and data amassed from earlier decades; and (4) to compare the heights and weights of Calhoun County males with age and ethnic peers in various parts of the world measured since -1960.…”

Somatic comparisons of urban and rural Russian boys, ages 6, 9, and 15 years, living in St. Petersburg and surrounding areas

“…Eight of the dimensions were used to derive the following indices: skelic index (lower limb height x loohitting height); trunk width index (hip width x 100khoulder width); upper limb index (arm girth x 100hpper limb length); and lower limb index (calf girth x 100Aower limb height). Body composition was estimated from the triceps, abdominal and subscapular skinfold thicknesses, the Body Mass Index (BMI), and estimated Arm Muscle Area (ARM), Equipment, subject positioning, and measurement methods are more fully described elsewhere (Knott, 1941;Meredith, 1960;Spurgeon et al, 1978). …”