Abstract
The purpose of this study was to classify and analyze the somatotype of early middle-aged women and to provide its total data for clothing construction, and to improve clothing culture. The subjects were 277 early middle-aged women between 35 and 44 years old. Data were collected through anthropometry and photometry and analyzed by factor analysis, cluster analysis and discriminant analysis. The results were as follows; 1. The result of factor analysis indicated that 10 factors were extracted through factor analysis and those factors comprised 86.13 percent of total variance. 2. Using factor scores, cluster analysis was carried out and the subject were classified into 4 cluster. Type 1 is tall, slim, and X type in front. Type 2 is standard height and weight, short upper body, and hip-protruded on the side. Type 3 is standard height, thin, H type in front, back and hip are clearly protruded, and lean-back type on the side. Type 4 is standard height, fat, and long upper body. 3. According to the stepwise discriminant analysis, the 8 important iems is classifying the somatotype of early middle-aged women are as follows : bust girth, back length hip breadth-waist breadth, back protruded point depth(back)-back waist depth(back), hip tangent tilt, hip depth(back) waist dapth(back), bust depth-waist depth, and cervical hight, The correct classification rate for these items is as exact as 83.20%.