Anthropometric History Research Articles

Secular trends and short-term fluctuations of mean age of menarche and an analysis of peak height velocity in modern Japan : a reconsideration of economic darkness during the interwar period from the viewpoint of anthropometric history

Secular trends and short-term fluctuations of mean age of menarche and an analysis of peak height velocity in modern Japan : a reconsideration of economic darkness during the interwar period from the viewpoint of anthropometric history

Comment on ‘Seat of Death and Terror’1

Oxley finds that smallpox consistently reduced heights, but that the fall was not statistically significant outside London or for juvenile Londoners. We demonstrate that inappropriate subdivision of the data into small samples explains the lack of significance she obtains. Further analysis of Oxley’s data shows that smallpox was a statistically significant cause of stunting, and that there were no differences in the effect by area. Juveniles exhibit greater stunting than adults, leading us to conclude that smallpox was not a proxy for overcrowding. That smallpox reduced height is important for anthropometric history: heights capture the effect of a truly awful disease.

Conservative treatment of obesity in an academic obesity unit. Long-term outcome and drop-out

The aim of this study was to explore the outcome and the problems of drop-out in the treatment of obese outpatients at an academic obesity unit. A two-year clinical treatment evaluation. A total of 117 obese subjects, 83 women and 34 men, mean aged 50 (23-70) years, with an average body mass index (BMI) of 39.0 kg/m2 (28.8- 64.7). All treatment was based on group therapy and included behaviour modification and nutrition counselling. A team of nurses, dieticians, a physiotherapist, a psychotherapist and a physician supervised the treatment. Two programmes were used. Group 1 initially received a low-calorie diet (LCD) for seven weeks combined with the behaviour treatment programme. Group 2 was treated with the behaviour treatment programme only. All subjects were offered complementary treatment according to their medical needs. There was a continuous drop-out of subjects during the two-year treatment period with an overall drop-out rate of 53%. Anthropometric characteristics, medical history or reasons for drop-out had no impact on the drop-out rate. In completers the weight reduction after two years was 9.2 [+/-10.8 standard deviation (S.D.) kg. In non-completers the weight reduction of the last observed weight measurement was 4.7 (+/-7.9 S.D.) kg. After year two, the weight reduction in Group 1 was 8.8 (+/-12.2 S.D.) kg, and in Group 2 was 9.7 (+/-8.0 S.D.) kg. This study has showed the difficulties of long-term clinical treatment of obese outpatients, even in a specialised obesity clinic. The findings demonstrate that educated and experienced staff together with an extended package of treatment options is not enough to keep patients in treatment for two years. However though the drop-out rate was high, two thirds of the included subjects reduced their weight, which is a satisfactory result in a clinical setting. The drop-out rate and the reasons for dropping out could give a clue in which direction the diagnostics and analysis of the subject's individual needs in health care should be directed.

Review: Classics in Anthropometric History * Anne Kelly, Anthea Symonds: The Social Construction of Community Nursing

1Glasgow Caledonian University The Social Construction of Community Nursing Anne Kelly Anthea Symonds Basingstoke Palgrave Macmillan 2003 xv + 216 Paperback£16.99 0‐333‐75006‐3

Looking Backward and Looking Forward: Anthropometric Research and the Development of Social Science History

The contributions included in this issue celebrate the 22d-year anniversary of the fall 1982 issue of Social Science History (vol. 6, no. 4) devoted to “Trends in Nutrition, Labor Welfare, and Labor Productivity.” The guest editors then were Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman, and all but one of the eight contributions were dedicated to anthropometric history (Fogel and Engerman 1982; Fogel et al. 1982; Floud and Wachter 1982; Friedman 1982;Margo and Steckel 1982; Sokoloff and Villaflor 1982; Tanner 1982). The issue had a considerable impact on the fledgling field of anthropometric history, even if a few publications preceded it in other journals (Fogel et al. 1978; Steckel 1979; Trussell and Steckel 1978). The editor of Social Science History at the time, James Q. Graham, hoped to expand the exploration of human heights and their economic and social correlates. He was one of the few journal editors convinced early on that such an agenda fit well into an interdisciplinary historical perspective.

The Origins of Anthropometric History: A Personal Memoir

The Origins of Anthropometric History: A Personal Memoir

Review: Classics in Anthropometric History

Review: Classics in Anthropometric History

Looking Backward and Looking Forward

The contributions included in this issue celebrate the 22d-year anniversary of the fall 1982 issue ofSocial Science History(vol. 6, no. 4) devoted to “Trends in Nutrition, Labor Welfare, and Labor Productivity.” The guest editors then were Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman, and all but one of the eight contributions were dedicated to anthropometric history (Fogel and Engerman 1982; Fogel et al. 1982; Floud and Wachter 1982; Friedman 1982;Margo and Steckel 1982; Sokoloff and Villaflor 1982; Tanner 1982). The issue had a considerable impact on the fledgling field of anthropometric history, even if a few publications preceded it in other journals (Fogel et al. 1978; Steckel 1979; Trussell and Steckel 1978).The editor ofSocial Science Historyat the time, James Q. Graham, hoped to expand the exploration of human heights and their economic and social correlates. He was one of the few journal editors convinced early on that such an agenda fit well into an interdisciplinary historical perspective.

An anthropometric history of early-modern France

The height of the French male population of the Ancien Regime is estimated, on the basis of military records, to have been about 162 cm in the seventeenth century. This extremely short stature implies that ‘the crisis of the 17th century’ had an immense impact on the human organism itself. The improvement in climatic conditions at the turn of the eighteenth century had an ameliorating effect on the human organism, increasing its size by nearly 4 cms within a span of 12 years. Improved weather had a beneficial impact on agricultural conditions as well as a direct effect on biological processes. The physical stature of men increased until the birth cohorts of the 1740s, to decline thereafter, in keeping with the European pattern, although the decline of the second half of the eighteenth century was not more severe than elsewhere in Europe. France was not suffering from a prolonged period of malnutrition of unusual severity, and the threat of a Malthusian crisis was mild compared to seventeenth-century conditions. Hence, the anthropometric evidence supports the notion that the French economic malaise was not a fundamental cause of the political turmoil. To be sure, there were very large social differences in the biological standard of living, which clearly fuelled the fires of revolution. The height of the French upper classes was 7 cm above average, but that, too, was standard for contemporary Europe.

Commentary: 'the child is father of the man.' The relationship between child health and adult mortality in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In the early years of the twentieth century, enormous concern was focused on the relationship between the health of the child and the welfare of the nation. In 1902, Leslie Mackenzie and Matthew Hay informed the Royal Commission on Physical Training (Scotland) that large numbers of children in Aberdeen and Edinburgh were suffering from serious medical conditions which could pose a threat to them in later life, and in 1904 the Interdepartmental Committee on Physical Deterioration devoted more than one-third of its report to conditions affecting the ‘juvenile population’. 1 In 1905 Leslie Mackenzie told the Royal Society of Edinburgh that the most important single lesson to emerge from the enquiries was the need to make the individual citizen fit for the environment around them. ‘One truth we have already realised—if we would fit the man for his environment, we must begin with the child. “The child is father of the man.”’ 2 As this statement indicates, contemporary medical opinion had already begun to emphasize the importance of child health and its relationship to the adult, but it was not until the 1930s that epidemiologists began to devote serious attention to the role which factors operating in early childhood might play in determining the chronological pattern of adult mortality. In 1934, Kermack, McKendrick and McKinlay suggested that if the decline of mortality in England, Scotland, Wales and Sweden in the second half of the nineteenth century was examined in terms of the experience of particular cohorts, then ‘it would seem that the actual calendar year is of relatively little importance in determining … mortality. What is of importance is year of birth of generation or group of individuals under consideration’. They went on to suggest that the first fifteen years of life were particularly important in shaping the health of the adolescent and the adult, and that ‘if the above hypothesis is correct, it would be implied that the decreased death rates were largely the result of … improved physique’. 3 The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of Kermack, McKendrick and McKinlay’s work on subsequent approaches to the history of health and mortality. The paper begins with an examination of the relationship between infant and child health and adult mortality, and focuses on the history of mortality decline in Sweden and Scotland. The second section seeks to extend Kermack, McKendrick and McKinlay’s work on the history of mortality decline in England and Wales back into the eighteenth century, and also highlights some important differences in the relationship between childhood and adult mortality in the case of men and women. The third section examines the impact of their work on the development of research in the field of anthropometric history. The final section will discuss the implications of this work for our understanding, not only of the causes of mortality decline in the past, but also for the projection of mortality trends in the future.

Modernes ökonomisches Wachstum und biologischer Lebensstandard

One of the most important recent findings of the anthropometric history research program is that human beings were becoming shorter at the onset of modern economic growth. There were hidden stresses on the biological system created by the new socio-economic environment that were not fully compensated by increases in income. This essay gives the outlines of an explanation for the "early-industrial-growth puzzle".

On the Biological Standard of Living in Russia and the Soviet Union

The systematic study of the physical characteristics of human beings reaches well back into the eighteenth century. By the 1830s, scientists began to recognize that human biological outcomes were influenced, not only by inherited characteristics, but by both the natural and the socioeconomic environment. Genetic variation, by itself, did not account for the spatial, social, or temporal variation in physical stature. Only in the 1970s, however, did historians begin in earnest to explore the welfare implications of anthropometric measures. With the birth of “anthropometric history,” biological indicators, including physical stature, were used to assess the welfare of human beings as complements to such conventional indicators as income or real wages.

Toward an Objective Evaluation of the Complexities of Soviet Social Reality under Stalin

John Komlos is one of the leading specialists on international comparative anthropometric history, and Steven L. Hoch is a leading specialist on the Russian peasantry. Their responses to my paper are a little disappointing, for they seem to have failed to grasp the main points of my argument and, despite my warnings, they have continued to view this problem from the standpoint of political interest. They both appear to be more concerned with condemning the Soviet system than with attempting to understand that system. My paper concluded by stating: “It is unfortunate that our academic debates are not used to confronting a complex situation in which secular improvements in welfare and mortality are accompanied by massive short-term crises in welfare and mortality. Instead of concentrating on the question, Who is to blame, we need to know more clearly What really happened? How large was the crisis? What factors were causing or moderating the secular trend?”

Strategic Ideas in the Rise of the New Anthropometric History and their Implications for Interdisciplinary Research

Although university administrators traditionally give some support to interdisciplinary research and the academic community has always participated, diligent efforts are being made to improve productive communication across disciplines. At my university, centers and institutes have mushroomed in the past couple of decades. Often transcending familiar academic boundaries, these operations bring together experts from numerous fields to engage in applied rather than basic research, and progress frequently hinges on using specialty knowledge in unfamiliar ways. institutes weaken centripetal academic forces and promote communication of ideas that help solve complex problems naturally encompassing various specialties. Economic history has joined in the growth of interdisciplinary activity. most recent Economic History Association meetings, for example, featured a theme of The Interdisciplinary Conversation of Economic History, where papers blended economic history with ideas from diverse fields such as law, human biology, physical anthropology, agricultural botany, and comparative literature. If connections across fields can be quite productive, it is instructive to consider the circumstances under which they flourish. Scholars should consider examples of successful interdisciplinary research for insights into the general process. How and under what conditions should interdisciplinary research be undertaken? What procedures or practices might enhance the chances of success? This essay considers these questions using the new anthropometric history as a case study. blend of history and economics with human biology, medicine, and physical anthropology has clarified several questions important to economic historians. Emerging some 20 years ago, the field evolved in the subsequent decade to address long-standing problems in slavery, mortality, inequality, and living standards during industrialization. Ideas ultimately determine the success or failure of a new approach, but researchers have noted that marketing or promotion and other factors are also relevant, especially in the short run. Ideas, however, are most interesting to a wide spectrum of readers and their study has the most general relevance for other areas. Therefore, the first portion of the essay discusses the evolution of ideas in the early years of the field. objective of this section is not to review the anthropometric literature in general (this was recently done), but to expand on those aspects of the field's early development that are relevant for success in the early stages of interdisciplinary activity more generally. second section considers implications of the rise of the new anthropometric history for conducting interdisciplinary research.

Growing Taller, Living Longer? Anthropometric History and the Future of Old Age

In recent years, economic and social historians have made increasing use of anthropometric records (principally, records of human height and weight) to investigate changes in human health and well-being. This paper summarises some of the main findings of this research and demonstrates the remarkable increases in human height which have occurred during the course of the present century. The paper also examines the relationship between changes in average height and changes in life expectancy. Although most of the evidence assembled by anthropometric historians has been derived from records relating to schoolchildren and young adults, their work has profound implications for the study of health in old age. The concluding section examines the relevance of this work to current debates on the decline of mortality, the ‘compression of morbidity’ and the future of social policy.

Stature, Living Conditions, and Economic Development: Essays in Anthropometric History

Preface by John Komlos Introduction: Growth in Height as a Mirror of the Standard of Living, James M. Tanner 1: The Heights of Europeans since 1750: A New Source for European Economic History Roderick Floud 2: The Height of Schoolchildren in Britain, 1900-1950 Bernard Harris 3: The Heights of the British and the Irish c. 1800-1815: Evidence from Recruits to the East India Company's Army Joel Mokyr, Cormac O Grada. 4: The Standard of Living in Scotland, 1800-1850 Paul Riggs 5: Stature, Welfare, and Economic Growth in Nineteenth-Century Spain: The Case of Murcia Jose M. Martinez Carrion 6: The Height of Runaway Slaves in Colonial America, 1720-1770 John Komlos 7: Health and Nutrition in the American Midwest: Evidence from the Height of Ohio National Guardsmen, 1850-1910 Richard H. Steckel, Donald R. Haurin. 8: How Severe was the Great Depression? Evidence from the Pittsburgh Region Jialu Wu 9: Heights and Health in the United States, 1710-1950 Richard H. Steckel 10: The Level of Living in Japan, 1885-1938: New Evidence Ted Shay Comment, Stanley Engerman On the Significance of Anthropometric History, John Komlos Bibliography Contributors Index

Anthropometric, Muscular Fitness, and Injury History Comparisons by Gender of Youth Soccer Teams

Anthropometric, Muscular Fitness, and Injury History Comparisons by Gender of Youth Soccer Teams

The Biological Standard of Living on Three Continents: Further Explorations in Anthropometric History.

The Biological Standard of Living on Three Continents: Further Explorations in Anthropometric History.

The Biological Standard of Living on Three Continents: Further Explorations in Anthropometric History

Introduction: historical anthropometrics - theory, method, and the state of the field, Timothy Cuff. Part 1 Europe: the Irish famine and intergenerational influences on weight at birth - two case studies, W. Peter Ward beyond Villerme and Quetelet - the quantitative relation between sex- and age-specific height and real per-capita income, J.W. Drukker diet, health and stature of the Russian population from the mid-19th to the beginning of the 20th century, Boris N. Mirinov heights and welfare in Spain 1900-1936, V. Perez-Moreda. Part 2 North America: heights of early American seafarers 1812-1815, Ira Dye a new anthropometric look at the status of women and children in Oneida community 1848-1881, John E. Murray heights, nutrition and per-capita income - Canada 1870-1915, Trevor Dick the heights of Americans in three centuries - some economic and demographic implications, Kenneth Sokoloff. Part 3 Asia: an inventory of secular changes in human growth in Indonesia, Pierre van der Eng. Part 4 Conclusion: anthropometric history and economic history, Stephen Nicholas.

Anthropometric History. What’s in it for Ireland?

Abstract : This paper offers a critical review of research published over the past decade on the connection between the stature of the Irish, on the one hand, and their health and living standards, on the other. Such work has relied on a variety of data culled from military, prison and hospital records on the heights and weights of strata of the Irish population between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. It has produced some surprising and useful findings, but the results need to be handled with caution and, if possible, in combination with other sources of information.