Body size and form of black girls age 9 years living in central South Carolina and eastern North Carolina

Abstract

Somatic data were collected during 1986-1987 on 53 Black girls age 9 years living in Calhoun County in rural central South Carolina. Measures of body size (standing height, sitting height, upper limb length, lower limb height, arm girth, hip width, and body weight), body from (lower limb height as a percentage of sitting height, arm girth as a percentage of upper limb length, calf girth as a percentage of lower limb height, hip width as a percentage of lower limb height) and skin-fat thickness (over triceps and on abdomen) were analyzed for central tendency and variability. Comparisons were made with earlier samples of Black girls measured in rural regions of Richland County in central South Carolina during 1975-1976 and in urban Greenville city and rural Pitt County in eastern North Carolina during 1980-1981 as well as with earlier studies conducted in various parts of the United States. The four same-age group samples yielded similar means for standing height, sitting height, arm and calf girth, and body weight. The Calhoun County girls exceeded their Pitt County, North Carolina, peers in lower limb height, upper limb length, and lower limb height as a percentage of sitting height. In each of the subgroups studied, the distribution of measures for skin-fat thicknesses was, to some extent, skewed positively.