Somatotypes of the Affluent and Non-affluent Meitei Boys of Manipur, India

Anthropometric somatotypes for 969 Meitei boys aged 12-18 years have been studied following the Heath-Carter method. 488 of the boys belonged to affluent families from urban areas and 481 to non-affluent families from rural areas. The affluent boys showed higher ratings of endomorphy than their non-affluent counterparts, whereas the non-affluent boys were more ectomorphs than the affluent boys. Mesomorphic ratings have no notable difference between the two groups. All the three ratings do change with age during adolescence. But no regular trend has been seen and no distinctive change corresponding to adolescent growth spurt has also been observed. The mean somatotype for the affluent boys was calculated to be 2.5 - 3.2 - 3.7 and for the non-affluent boys 2.0 - 3.1 - 4.0. The single highest somatotype category for the affluent boys was balanced ectomorph and for the non-affluent boys, mesomorphic ectomorph. In the affluent group, somatotype changed from mesomorph-ectomorph (during 12 to 15 years) to balanced ectomorph (during 16 to 18 years). The non-affluent boys belonged to mesomorphic ectomorph at all ages except at 13 and 14 years during which, they were mesomorph-ectomorph.