Prediction of adult Sheldon somatotypes I and II from ratings and measurements at childhood ages.

The photographs of 82 boys from the Harpenden Growth Study were assigned somatotype ratings at ages 5, 8, 11, 14, and 18 years, using both Sheldon's earlier, anthroposcopic method and his revised, objective method (somatotype II). Inter-judge correlations for the anthroposcopic ratings of the 18-year-olds ranged from 0.79 to 0.93 for the three components; correlations for the somatotype II ratings ranged from 0.94 to 0.99. The three components of the somatotype II ratings showed greater independence of one another than did those of the anthroposcopic method, which tended to collapse towards two dimensions. Correlations for corresponding components between the anthroposcopic and somatotype II ratings at the same age were mostly in the low 0.80s. Mean somatotype ratings changed little with age in either method, but the somatotype II ratings were consistently higher in endomorphy and mesomorphy and lower in ectomorphy than the anthroposcopic ratings. Patterns of inter-age correlations were similar within methods: endomorphy showed lower age-to-age correlations than did mesomorphy and ectomorphy. Correlations of anthroposcopic component ratings with ratings at age 18 increased distinctly from age 5 to age 8, less sharply thereafter. Between ages 8 and 18, within observer, they were 0.72, 0.83, and 0.82, for endomorphy, mesomorphy, and ectomorphy. These 8-to-18 correlations for mesomorphy and ectomorphy are similar in magnitude to those for height.