Morphological Change in the Korean Youths

This paper deals with secular trend of height spanning 1979 to 2010 and also morphological growth patterns for Korean youths. It is based on the data offered by KATS of 1997 and 2010 and the subjects taken in account were those ranging from 6 to 18 years of age. It also investigates the comparison of the growth pattern between male and female based on the anthropometric data samples of KATS taken from the 1979 to 2010 surveys. The great rates of change in height occurred during 1979 - 1997 with 2-3 cm increase in both sexes at each surveys. After 1997 the change rate of height while increasing is remained within less than 1cm till 2010 survey. This pattern is consistent with recent Korean cultural emphasis on health and physical fitness according to the economic development. The causes of the observed trends, insofar as they have been identified, are related to cultural processes. According to the the results for the growth features, the girls at age 10 years, the values of height, arm length, bust girth, waist girth and hip girth are, respectively, 140.7 cm, 47.6cm, 72.0 cm, 62.0 cm and 76.2 cm. For boys at age 10, the values of height, arm length, bust girth, waist girth and hip girth are, respectively, 141.4 cm, 47.6cm, 72.0 cm, 64.9 cm and 75.2 cm. Each year, height increases 4-6 cm between the ages of 6 and 12 years in both sexes. And then the height increases 2-3 cm per year in girls group and 4-5cm in boys group aged from 12 to 15 years. At age 6, height reaches approximately 74% of the adult height and arm length, bust girth, waist girth and hip girth reache respectively 72%, 71.7%, 77.7% and 67.9% of the adult size(adults of age 16-17 years). At age 6, weight reaches about 40% of the weight of adults aged 16-17. On average, maturity in growth is reached at the age of 18-19 years for males and 16-17 years for females. The body proportion rate showed that the grown up body features were attained in average both for boys and girls, around the age of 13 years.