Relationships between Body Fat and Appearance Ratings of U.S. Soldiers

摘要

Military Service requirements to maintain physical appearance drive, in part, theServe standards for maximum weight for height and/or body composition. This report considers two issues: 1) how strongly are ratings of 'military appearance' and fatness associated, and 2) can reliable, valid assessments be made visually in a military population which includes both genders and contains members of varying race and age. A panel of 11 U.S. Army headquarters staff personnel made visual ratings of 1075 male and 251 female U.S. Army personnel from photographs of the subjects both in uniform and in swimsuit. Validities for prediction of percent body fat from ratings of fatness approach those for prediction from anthropometric variables. Ratings of appearance appear to involve more than a consideration of the fatness of the individual. Thus a single rating scale for appearance and fatness is not feasible. Visual ratings of fatness appear to be valid, reliable indicators of percent body fat. Keywords: Body composition; Body fat; Appearance; Visual assessment. (kt)