COMPARATIVE FINDINGS ON SKELIC INDEX OF BLACK AND WHITE CHILDREN AND YOUTHS RESIDING IN SOUTH-CAROLINA

  • 1 January 1976
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 40  (1) , 75-81
Abstract
A facet of human body form, the relation of lower limbs to stem as quantified by the skelic index (lower limb height .times. 100/sitting height), was studied. The subjects were North American black and white pupils measured during 1974-1975 at elementary and high schools in Columbia, South Carolina, USA. Females were measured at ages 9 yr and 13 yr, males at ages 11 yr and 15 yr. At each childhood and adolescent age studied, skelic index means were considerably higher for the black than for the white pupils. SD and distances between spaced percentiles showed that variability of the skelic index at a given age was similar for white and black school pupils of South Carolina. Supplementary means for components of the skelic index indicated that black children and youths were shorter in sitting height than their white age peers, and that white children and youths were shorter in lower limb height than their black age peers. The skelic index of both ethnic groups increased between late childhood and mid-adolescence.

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