A SOMATORYPE STUDY OF ADOLESCENTS FROM TECHNICAL COURSES INTEGRATED TO HIGH SCHOOL IN A CITY OF RONDÔNIA (BRAZIL)

Abstract

Somatotype represents body types. These types are related to the proportion of each body component (bones, muscles and fat). In order to describe each person's somatotype the following expressions are used: a) endomorphy – characterized by the harmony (roundness) and regularity (softness) of the body, and digest system and tendency to obesity prevail; b) mesomorphy – it indicates greater musculo-skeletal mass; c) ectomorphy – it refers to thinness, linear shapes, fragility and body sliminess prevail; and d) central – when there is no predominance of one characteristic over another. This study has aimed to describe the somatotype of the adolescents from Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia (IFRO) – Ji Paraná Campus. The sample was constituted by 264 students, from 13 to 17 years old (average values 15,25±0,90 for female and 15,51±98 for male), studying in the morning or afternoon. From those, 160 were female and 104 male. The somatotype was calculated from the anthropometric measurements carried out according to specific protocols and based on Heath-Carter procedures, described by Fontoura, Formentin and Abech (2008), the calculations were done through Excel 2007 Software and the statistical analysis in the Excel: XL Stat 2011. The following results were found out: a) female – endomorphy 63,13%, mesomorphy 16,88%, ectomorphy 16,25% and central 3,75%; b) male – mesomorphy 52,88%, ectomorphy 30,77%, endomorphy 12,50% and central 3,85%. It is necessary to develop preventive actions in school environments in order to avoid obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and problems related to body fat excess, thus the endomorphic somatotype has this feature and this characteristic predominates in 43,56% of the students analyzed. By the somatotyping diversity it can be stated that those students have various athletic possibilities.