Vol. 7, No 1, 2009 pp.79 - 90
UDC 796:616.127-005
Original empirical article
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ANTHROPOMETRIC PARAMETERS OF SEVEN-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN
Ratomir Đurašković, Radmila Kostić, Saša Pantelić, Dobrica Živković, Slavoljub Uzunović, Tijana Purenović, Mladen Živković
Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Niš, Serbia
E-mail: djuraskovicr@yahoo.com
Abstract. The aim of this research was to confirm or reject the hypothesis regarding the non-existence of statistically significant differences between young boys and girls from Niš in terms of their anthropometric measures. The sample of subjects consisted of 91 boys and 85 girls, all of whom were first grade elementary students and were, on average, seven years old. Seventeen anthropometric measurements were taken, including the BMI, all of which covered the area of longitudinal, trasversal, circular dimensionality and subcutaneous fatty tissue. The differences between the anthropometric measurements of the boys and girls were determined by means of the Student t-test. The results showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the measurements of the anthropometric characteristics. Nevertheless, a numeric difference in many of the parameters can be found between the subsamples, as well as great intra-group differences, which signaled the heterogeneity of the groups in terms of the evaluated characteristics. During any study of the anthropometric characteristics involving a sample of students of this age, it is necessary to pay attention to not only calendar age but biological age as well.
Key words:  anthropometrics, children, differences, comparison, heterogeneity
KOMPARATIVNA ANALIZA ANTROPOMETRIJSKIH PARAMETARA SEDMOGODIŠNJE DECE
Svrha istraživanja je da se potvrdi ili negira hipoteza o nepostojanju statistički značajnih razlika između dečaka i devojčica grada Niša u antropometrijskim merama. Uzorak ispitanika činio je 91 dečak i 85 devojčica koji pohađaju prvi razred osnovnih škola i imaju u proseku sedam godina. Izmereno je 17 antropometrijskih mera uključujući BMI, koje su pokrivale prostor longitudinalne, transferzalne, cirkularne dimenzionalnosti i potkožnog masnog tkiva. Razlike u antropometrijskim merama između dečaka i devojčica utvrđene su izračunavanjem Studentovog t-testa. Rezultati su pokazali da ne postoji statistički značajna razlika u merama antropometrijskih karakteristika. Međutim, postoji numerička razlika u mnogim parametrima između subuzoraka, kao i velika razlika unutar grupa što je ukazalo na izraženu heterogenost grupa u pogledu procenjivanih karakteristika. Pri istraživanjima antropometrijskih karakteristika na ovom uzrastu ispitanika potrebno je obratiti pažnju ne samo na kalendarsku, već i na biološku starost.
Ključne reči: antropometrija, deca, razlike, komparacija, heterogenost