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Sexual Dimorphism in Finger Ridge Breadth Measurements: A Tool for Sex Estimation from Fingerprints
Author(s) -
Mundorff Amy Z.,
Bartelink Eric J.,
Murad Turhon A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.12449
Subject(s) - sexual dimorphism , ridge , dermatoglyphics , forensic anthropology , numerical digit , biology , statistics , pattern recognition (psychology) , mathematics , zoology , artificial intelligence , geography , computer science , paleontology , genetics , arithmetic , archaeology
Abstract Previous research has demonstrated significant sexual dimorphism in friction ridge skin characteristics. This study uses a novel method for measuring sexual dimorphism in finger ridge breadths to evaluate its utility as a sex estimation method from an unknown fingerprint. Beginning and ending in a valley, the width of ten parallel ridges with no obstructions or minutia was measured in a sample of 250 males and females ( N = 500). The results demonstrate statistically significant differences in ridge breadth between males and females ( p < 0.001), with classification accuracy for each digit varying from 83.2% to 89.3%. Classification accuracy for the pooled finger samples was 83.9% for the right hand and 86.2% for the left hand, which is applicable for cases where the digit number cannot be determined. Weight, stature, and to a lesser degree body mass index also significantly correlate with ridge breadth and account for the degree of overlap between males and females.