Body Size and Form of Black and White Female Youths Measured during 1974-1975 at Columbia, South Carolina

Abstract

From original data at age 13 years on 386 North American females (201 black and 185 white), statistics are presented for 10 somatic variables. The 2 ethnic groups yield similar means for standing height, arm girth, and leg girth; the black females, contrasted with their white peers, are shorter in sitting height, longer in lower limb height, and narrower in hip width. The Columbia subjects are compared with black and white females studied in North America several decades ago, and with black and white females studied recently in other parts of North America and in Australia, Europe, Africa, and the Lesser Antilles.