Somatotypes of 7‐ to 16‐year‐old boys in Saskatchewan, Canada

The purpose of this study was to examine the stability of somatotypes of 63 boys in Saskatoon, Canada who were followed from 7 to 16 years of age. Somatotype photos were taken annually and rated by a criterion rater (BH-R). Comparisons were made longitudinally across all years using repeated-measures ANOVAs of the whole somatotype (S), somatotype attitudinal means (SAM), analysis of categories, separate components (endomorphy, mesomorphy, ectomorphy), and partial correlations. In the first year, the means were age = 7.1 yr, height = 121.0 cm, mass = 22.8 kg, S = 2.9-3.6-1.6, and SAM = 1.1. In the last year, the means were age = 16.7 yr, height = 172.6 cm, mass = 59.9 kg, S = 2.5-4.0-3.7, and SAM = 1.4. Mean somatotypes across years were different [F(9,558) = 67.9, P < .01], with the largest differences between 7–10 yr and 14–16 yr. These differences were largely due to significant increases in mesomorphy (F = 24.6, P < .01) and ectomorphy (F = 159.9, P < .01). Partial correlations between ages for each component, with the other two held constant, revealed poor predictions for three or more years apart (r2 < .35). Thus, both group and individual somatotypes changed between 7 and 16 years of age. The overall pattern was from endo-mesomorph through central to mesomorph-ectomorph somatotypes. The trends are similar to those observed in comparable samples from other countries. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 9:257–272, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Analysis of variance · Anthropometry · Hum · Somatotypes · Statistics · Body Composition Measurement Techniques · Demography · History · Internal Medicine · Mathematics · Medicine · Psychology

• Growth and somatotype of urban and rural Javanese children in Yogyakarta and Bantul, Indonesia

  Open Access•N T Rahmawati, Janatin Hastuti et al.•Anthropological Science•2004

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