Physical Measurement of Young Children: A Study of Anthropometric Reliabilities for Children Three to Six Years of Age.

After a review of literature regarding the accuracy of anthropometric observations, the author reports on 35 physical measurements studied on 131 different preschool children. The measurements include various dimensions of body length, transverse and anterior-posterior diameters of trunk and head, girth measurements, and also some measures of skin and subcutaneous tissue. The basic data consist of 3,643 pairs of measurements taken by two different observers and 221 pairs of measurements taken by the same observer. Reliability values were computed from the differences obtained between the various pairs of observations. The results of reliability are presented in terms of absolute difference (median, ninetieth percentile and maximum difference), and in a special chapter (VIII) also in relation to size of dimension (median and maximum difference in per cent of the mean size of the respective dimension). In terms of absolute differences, median values range from 0.5 to 6 mm.; when related to