A STUDY ON SOMATOTYPE OF THE HAN YOUNGSTERS IN WEIFANG OF SHANDONG PROVINCE WITH THE HEATH-CARTER ANTHROPOMETRIC METHOD

The somatotypes of 2511 students of Han Nationality (1253 boys and 1258 girls) living in urban and rural areas of Weifang of Shandong Province aged between 7-19 years old were randomly collected and studied with the Heath-Carter somatotyping method in August and September,2000. The mean somatotypes of the urban boys in 7-15 age groups were Central, and in 16-18, Endomorph-Mesomorph. The mean somatotypes of the rural boys in 7-10 were Mesomorph-Ectomorph, in (11-14), Mesomorphic Ectomorph, in 15-17, Central, and in 18-19, Endomorph-Mesomorph. On the other hand, the mean somatotypes of the urban girls in 7-9 were Central,in 10, Balanced Endomorph, in 11-12, Mesomorph-Ectomorph, and in 13-18, Balanced Endomorph. The mean somatotypes of the rural girls in 7-12 were Balanced Ectomorph, in 13-14, Ectomorph-Endomorph, and in (15-18), Balanced Endomorph. The difference in the mean somatotypes became significant between the boys and girls from 9 years old in the city and 7 years old in the country(t=2.87,P0.05), and more significant from 13 years old(t=4.21,P0.001).