Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-2001

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Anthropology

Major Professor

Murray K. Marks

Committee Members

Richard L. Jantz, Lyle W. Konigsberg

Abstract

Literature review of the anatomical and sports and exercise science journals presented evidence of musculature size and/or distribution differences between blacks and whites. Based on a specific autopsy research finding of increased cross-sectional area of the psoas major muscle in blacks when compared to whites and an understanding of the relationship between the pelvic musculature and the os coxa, a hypothesis was presented that the os coxae of black individuals will display greater depth and/or distance measurements along select points of the anterior border and iliac fossa while taking into account group size differences in the os coxa.To test the hypothesis, the os coxae of 102 modem males (41 black, 61 white)from five separate donated and forensic collections were analyzed for racial differences.Nineteen length and depth measurements of the anterior border and iliac fossa were taken, and eight indices computed, and subjected to t-tests on the means. Additionally,overall os coxa shape differences of the nineteen measured variables were evaluated by examining the total canonical structure produced by discriminant function analysis.The statistical results of this study reflect both size and shape differences in the oscoxa between blacks and whites. A statistically significant size increase was found in white males for fourteen of the nineteen variables. Of the remaining variables, four out of five all lay in the central portion of the os coxa where the iliopsoas muscle passes over the anterior pelvic brim beneath the inguinal ligament.To obtain an optimal model for group separation, the variables and indices were then subjected to variable selection procedures. Four variables were chosen as optimal group discriminators. These variables emphasized the greater distances in white between the anterior superior and inferior iliac spines, the anterior superior iliac spine endpoint iliac auricular—a point on the ilium where the iliac tuberosity, fossa and auricular surface meet, the greater depth of the iliac fossa as projected from the anterior superioriliac spine and point ilioauricular, and the lesser depth of the notch between the anterior superior and inferior iliac spines when compared to blacks.The four-variable model was then subjected to two separate methods of functional analysis—discriminant function analysis and logistic regression—and the cross-validation classification of the two models compared for accuracy. Evaluation of the discriminant function resulted in an overall classification of 82.9% of individuals, and the logistic regression model, 83.3%.

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