Comparative findings on the skelic index of black and white children and youths residing in South Carolina.

This paper pertains to one facet of human body form, the relation of lower limbs to stem as quantified by the skelic index (lower limb height x 100/sitting height). The subjects were North American black and white pupils measured during 1974-1975 at elementary and high schools in Columbia, South Carolina. Females were measured at ages 9 and 13 years, males at ages 11 years and 15 years. At each childhood and adolescent age studied, skelic index means were considerably higher for the black than for the white pupils. Standard deviations and distances between spaced percentiles showed that variability of the skelic index at a given age was similar for white and black school pupils of South Carolina. Supplementary means for components of the skelic index indicated (1) black children and youths were shorter in sitting height than their white age peers, and (2) white children and youths were shorter in lower limb height than their black age peers. The skelic index of both ethnic groups increased between late childhood and mid-adolescence.