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The physique of female psychiatric patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

H. C. Fowlie
H. C. Fowlie*
Affiliation:
University of St. Andrews; Dundee Royal Mental Hospital
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Extract

Parnell's method of physical anthropometry (Parnell, 1954), which has been derived from that of Sheldon (Sheldon, 1940), measures body build in three components. These three components of physique are designated (1) linearity, which is the ratio of height to weight; (2) muscularity, which is calculated from limb girth and bone measurements; and (3) fat, which is derived from skin fold measurements. The values obtained by actual measurement of a patient to elicit these components are plotted on a chart from which is obtained a first estimate of somatotype. This so called M4 Adult Deviation Chart has been devised so that a rating of 4 in muscularity will bear a constant proportional relationship to stature and is a means of converting the anthropomorphic data into an estimate of the three components of physique. The relative importance of these components is indicated by rating each on a 7 point scale. The first estimate of somatotype obtained in this way is then combined with a visual assessment of somatotype, which is made from a standard three-view photograph, to give the final estimate of somatotype, which must therefore be partially subjective. This final estimate of somatotype is then plotted on a somatochart.

Type
Constitutional
Information
Journal of Mental Science , Volume 108 , Issue 456 , September 1962 , pp. 594 - 603
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1962 

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References

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