The Size and Structural factors of The Korean Elementary School Girls' Hands

학령기 여아의 손 치수 및 구조요인 분석

In the current study, we measured the hands and other representative body items of 223 elementary school girls using Martin Anthropometer and a digital camera so that we would be able to provide information on both size and shape of hands for design of hand-related products. As time goes on, hands get bigger, yet they get thinner at the same time. The data implies that the frame of hands grows, but the skin fat lessens, which could be a determinant factor in the size system of hand-related products. According to the results of a factor analysis on 26 hand items, 5 factors including hand laterality and linearity, fingertip shape, finger breadth, and hand depth, have been extracted. Pearson's correlation showed that most of hand-related factors were strongly associated with other body items. Finger breadth and hand depth, however, were found less related to other body items. The ANOVA test used in testing the difference of hand factors showed, in most items, a difference by ages, but there was no significant differences in fingertip breadth, the third factor, Interestingly, in hand depth, the fifth factor, lower grade girls' hands were thicker than higher grade girls'. This research suggests that the size system of uniformly increasing the size of all hand parts by age groups should be reconsidered and leaves much for improvement.