An Assessment of Long-Term Changes in Anthropometric Dimensions: Secular Trends of U.S. Army Males

Abstract

This report describes long-term changes in the body dimensions within the Army population for 22 body dimensions in four racial/cultural groups: Whites, Blacks, Hispanics and Asian/Pacific Islanders. Individuals were grouped by birth year into 12 five-year cohorts, which span the years 1911 to 1970. Rates of change were calculated by regressing age-adjusted dimensions against cohort. Analyses of these relationships showed that almost all dimensions sustained statistically significant linear trends, the few exceptions being found within the Asian/Pacific Islanders group. Furthermore, except for the Asian/Pacific Islanders, the greatest relative rates of change were found in dimensions related to soft tissue development rather than skeletal dimensions. This pattern is consistent with the most recent American cultural emphasis on health and physical fitness. The markedly different patterns seen in Asian/ Pacific Islanders were best explained by immigration: they have experienced a linear increase in the proportion of foreign born members.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1990
Accession Number
ADA230416

Entities

People

  • Claire C. Gordon
  • Thomas M. Greiner

Organizations

  • United States Army Soldier Systems Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Anthropology
  • Army Personnel
  • Computer Programs
  • Data Science
  • Databases
  • Demographic Cohorts
  • Demography
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Health
  • Hispanics
  • Information Science
  • Physical Fitness
  • Regression Analysis
  • Security
  • Soft Tissues
  • Surveys
  • United States

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