Abstract:

BACKGROUND: The Health-Carter method is widely used in somatotype study since it is originated in 1960s. In recent 20 years, several scholars have made studies of adult and student somatotypes in many regions in China. However, the reports concerning college students are few.
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the rules and characteristics of somatotype distribution of college students in Qingdao, Shandong province, so as to compliment the essential data for physical anthropology.
METHODS: Employing Health-Carter method, the 218 college students were measured on the indexes of biepicondylar breadth of the humerus, biepicondylar breadth of the femur, tricps skinfold, subscapular skinfold, suprailiac skinfold, medial calf skinfold, body length, body weight, upper arm girth flexed and tensed and calf girth. Every index was measured 3 times and average values were adopted, and compared to that of other regions.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Data of 218 college students were taken in the analysis. The mean somatotype data of male was 6.4-2.7-3.0, which focused on balanced endomorphy. The mean somatotype data of female was 4.8-2.3-3.0, focused on ectomorphic endomorph. Higher value of mean endomorphy and mean mesomorphy showed male students had much fat and more developed skeletal and muscle systems than female students. Compared with other regions, college students in Qingdao area were fatter,and skeletal and muscle systems were poorly developed. The comparison of the mean ectomorphy and the body length/body weight (HWR) showed that the male was close to the female on the body linearity. The mean endomorphy and the HWR were higher in males than in females, SAD was 1.65±0.51, which showed the existence of the differences between the male and the female. These findings suggest that the college students in Qingdao are fatter and have poorly developed skeletal and muscle systems with slimmer bodies.