Sohn Kitae
a Department of Economics , Konkuk University , Seoul , South Korea.
Ann Hum Biol. 2016 Nov;43(6):537-541. doi: 10.3109/03014460.2015.1115125. Epub 2015 Dec 7.
A group of researchers has argued that sexual stature dimorphism (SSD) can serve as an indicator of living standards. This argument is based on evidence that boys' physical growth is more sensitive to environmental conditions than girls' physical growth. Because Korea's economic growth in the second half of the 20th century was unprecedentedly rapid, according to their logic, it is likely to see an increasing trend in SSD.
We aimed to determine whether SSD can serve as an accurate indicator of living standards for a population that would exhibit a pronounced trend in SSD, providing that the logic for use of SSD is correct.
We employed nationally representative Korean men born in 1941-1990 (n = 17 268) and women born in 1941-1991 (n = 22 543) and estimated mean heights by sex and birth years. We then calculated SSD values and charted the trend.
Although male height increased faster than female height, the SSD trend was flat for the pooled observations and for sub-groups by socioeconomic status.
These results cast doubt on the argument for using SSD as an indicator of living standards.
一组研究人员认为，两性身高差异（SSD）可作为生活水平的一个指标。这一观点基于以下证据：男孩的身体生长比女孩的身体生长对环境条件更为敏感。按照他们的逻辑，由于20世纪下半叶韩国经济增长速度空前之快，因此SSD可能呈上升趋势。
我们旨在确定SSD是否能作为一个群体生活水平的准确指标，前提是使用SSD的逻辑正确，且该群体的SSD会呈现出明显趋势。
我们选取了具有全国代表性的1941年至1990年出生的韩国男性（n = 17268）和1941年至1991年出生的韩国女性（n = 22543），并按性别和出生年份估算平均身高。然后我们计算了SSD值并绘制了趋势图。
尽管男性身高增长速度快于女性身高，但总体观察结果以及按社会经济地位划分的亚组的SSD趋势是平稳的。
这些结果对将SSD用作生活水平指标的观点提出了质疑。
