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Quantitative hair form variation in seven populations
Author(s) -
Hrdy Daniel
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330390103
Subject(s) - curling , variation (astronomy) , principal component analysis , multivariate statistics , univariate , biology , multivariate analysis , population , evolutionary biology , demography , statistics , mathematics , sociology , physics , materials science , astrophysics , composite material
Although hair form has received much attention in the past, it has rarely been studied systematically, and never using direct curling variables. In the present study, seven groups were scored on eight variables, including four newly‐devised curling variables. These data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate techniques to give information about the population relations and mechanisms of hair form. “Racial” groups were separated using a principal components analysis. African and Melanesian populations were shown to have significantly different quantitative hair form traits, especially in regard to their regularity of curvature. The physiological, environmental, and genetic factors contributing to hair form variation are discussed.