Changes in somatotype during growth in Chinese youth 7–18 years of age

✍ Scribed by Cheng-Ye Ji; Seiji Ohsawa

• Book ID: 102660536
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 945 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1042-0533
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1520-6300(1996)8:3<347::aid-ajhb6>3.0.co;2-x

✦ Synopsis

Heath-Carter anthropometric somatotypes were calculated for 7,710 Chinese youths (4,434 boys and 3,276 girls), 7-18 years of age in the context of sex and age differences in distributions during adolescence. Age-specific trends are characterized by a consistent increase in endomorphy in girls and generally stable mesomorphy in boys. Somatotypes are consistently dominant in mesomorphy in boys and in endomorphy in girls across all ages. Somatotype distributions in the 13 somatotype categories of Heath-Carter somatochart appear to be broader in girls than in boys, and is more influenced by age in girls than in boys. Comparisons with other Asian samples and with Canadian youth suggest racial/ethnic variation in somatotype. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.