Changes of Somatotypes and Body Proportions in Korean Youths

Lee, Youngsuk

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to try to quantify the changes in somatotypes and to determine, if any, the distinctive features of young Koreans while they are growing. It is based on the data offered by the Korean National survey of 1997 and the subjects taken in account were those ranging from 6 to 17 years of age. The analized contents used by us here were the annual growth rates, the body shape grouping by canonical analysis statistical method and body proportion rate changes. 1. The result for the growth rates showed that youngsters have their peak growth velocity between 12 and 14 years of age in case of boys and between 8 and 10 in case of girls. 2. The result for the body shape grouping shows that, the body type of the young childhood (from 6 to 9 years of age), the body type of the puberty (from 10 to 12 years of age) and the body type of the junior adolescent (from 13 to 15 years of age), thus, leads us to distinguish 3 groups. 3. As examples of items body proportion rates, we found for instance that the ratio of the span for the height was 0.996H in case of grown males Korean between 18~24 years of age, 0.994H for ages from 25 to 50, and in case of grown females 0.984H for ages 18~24 and 0.985H for ages 25~50, showing then a slightly longer ratio for males. There was no noticable differences though betwen the two big age groups (18~24 years of age and 25~50 years of age). 4. Body proportion rates showed also that the grown-up body features were attained in average both for boys and girls, around the age of 13 years.