Body Height of Adult Men Coming from the Pomerania Province in the Context of Gradients and Social Differences, Age and the Level of Physical Activity

Authors

Ewa Wojtowicz, Gdansk University of Physical Education and Sport in Gdansk, PolandFollow

Abstract

Background: This paper attempts to answer the following question: are there any gradients and social differences in a group of adult men coming from Pomerania Province resulting from their biological condition – body height. Material/Methods: Opinion polls were conducted in the years 2000–2007 in a group of 893 men aged 37-78 years. The subjects are fathers of first-year students of full-time studies at the Gdansk University of Physical Education and Sport (Poland). The questionnaire included open questions concerning the date and the place of birth, body height, education, performed job, social background and doing sport. Statistical analyses were conducted using Statistica 6.0 software. For continuous variables, the normality of distributions was verified using Shapiro-Wilk’s test. In cases of abnormal distributions, medians were used and the differences between them were tested using the Mann-Whitney test or the Kruskal-Wallis test. The correlation link between quantitative variables was estimated calculating the Spearman rank order correlation coefficient. Changes of specific values of the feature into an appropriate rank were made when the distribution of the variable did not have a normal character. Results: The correlation between the level of physical activity and body height in the adult age does not reach the level of statistical relevance. The highest values of body height are achieved by younger men coming from cities who have the intelligentsia background with higher education and perform intellectual jobs. Conclusions: Differentiated body height is an anthropological reflection of still existing socio-economic inequalities and still can be one of the anthropological methods of following social inequalities in a group of adult men coming from the Pomerania Province.

Recommended Citation

Wójtowicz E. Body Height of Adult Men Coming from the Pomerania Province in the Context of Gradients and Social Differences, Age and the Level of Physical Activity. Balt J Health Phys Act. 2012; 4(1): 27-34. doi: 10.2478/v10131-012-0004-1

DOI

10.2478/v10131-012-0004-1

Author ORCID Identifier

Ewa Wojtowicz https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5917-908X

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.