• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.46 no.9
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• pp.99-112
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• 2008

The increasing rate of obesity in school aged children has become a conspicuous social phenomenon in Korea. This has been linked to greater economic growth, increasingly westernized dietary habits, and a consumer driven society. Given that obesity can lead to social exclusion or unfavorable attention by other students in a school setting, the design of plus-size garments have become important for effective appearance management skills. This research aimed to establish a somatotype database for obese school boys, aged 10 to 12, in order to develop a sizing system for plus-size upper garments. In order to measure somatotype of average and obese school boys, five categories were recorded; height, obesity, length of trunk, thickness of neck and chest. For obese boys, subcutaneous fat thickness and position of B.P/shoulder point factors were recorded. Obesity factor was subdivided into overall and specific ones, and while the deviation of obese body types was severe compared to the average type. Obese body type showed significantly higher measurements in width, girth, thickness. This is linked to the fact that the frequency ratio of obesity increases with age. Stature and chest were chosen as control dimensions for boys' wear. As crosstabulation of stature(5cm interval) and chest girth(2, 3 and 4cm), and stature(5cm interval)/chest girth(3cm interval) sizing system showed, the most effective cover ratio and adaptability to the data distribution $25{\sim}75$ quartile. Based on the findings, 10 sizes were formulated for average body type, while 18 sizes were formulated for obese type, whose size cover ratios were 48% and 62.9%, respectively. The primary ranges of stature were $145cm{\sim}150cm$, while those of chest girth were $79{\sim}82cm$. Each size was declared as "chest-somatotype{A(average)/O(obesity)-stature". This study proposed a plus-size upper garment sizing systems for obese boys, accompanied with reference measurements for suit, casual wear and underwear. The finding showed that the two systems were totally separate and not overlapping, meaning that plus-size sizing system is essential for obese school boys. The obesity type system had more size and wider range specs.