Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Assessment of the associations of age with the classic skeletal sex indicators

Dissertation (MSc (Anatomy))--University of Pretoria, 2024.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Liebenberg, Leandi
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2024
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613452323782656
access_status_str Open Access
author2 Liebenberg, Leandi
author_browse Liebenberg, Leandi
author_facet Liebenberg, Leandi
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MSc (Anatomy))--University of Pretoria, 2024.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/94596
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:36:22.373Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/94596 Assessment of the associations of age with the classic skeletal sex indicators Liebenberg, Leandi sarahkellyhouston@gmail.com Brits, Desiré Myburgh, Jolandie Houston, Sarah-Kelly UCTD Forensic anthropology Sexual dimorphism Morphoscopic Cranium Pubic bone Dissertation (MSc (Anatomy))--University of Pretoria, 2024. Forensic anthropologists are often required to establish a biological profile from skeletal remains, which includes the estimation of biological sex. The Walker and Phenice traits are morphoscopic methods frequently utilised to estimate sex from unknown skeletal remains. The methods employ five traits located on the skull and three on the os coxae and are considered the classic morphological skeletal sex indicators. Previous literature has stated that the growth and deterioration related to aging that occurs throughout an individual’s life may affect the classic morphological skeletal sex indicators and therefore the estimation of sex. More specifically, females are reported to become more robust with older age, while younger males appear more gracile. This overlap in sexual dimorphism leads to greater misclassification and decreased accuracy in medicolegal casework. The aim of this study was to assess if age needs to be considered when attempting to classify sex using the classic morphological sex indicators. The sex indicators were scored on a sample of 453 skulls and 429 os coxae of modern South Africans. The scores were then compared among ten different age cohorts. Separate age-specific classification models were created to assess if age affects the positive predictive performance of the sample. Significant differences were identified for the nuchal crest between age cohorts younger and older than forty years of age with the sample pooled. None of the other cranial traits demonstrated any significant differences. Regarding the classification models, accuracies increased for the younger group when separated from the older group, but the opposite was shown to be true for the older group. The os coxae did not show significant differences between the ten age cohorts. However, when separated into three large cohorts (younger, middle-aged, older) differences in accuracy was apparent between the cohorts. The results indicate that preselection of age prior to sex estimation is not necessary in a South African population. Further research is required to identify additional explanations for misclassification with sex estimation, as age does not appear to be a major influential factor for the classic morphoscopic sex indicators. UP Postgraduate Masters Research Bursary Anatomy MSc (Anatomy) Unrestricted Faculty of Health Sciences SDG-16:Peace,justice and strong institutions 2024-02-14T08:13:44Z 2024-02-14T08:13:44Z 2024-04 2024 Dissertation * A2024 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/94596 DOI: https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.25217603.v1 https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.25217603 en © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Forensic anthropology
Sexual dimorphism
Morphoscopic
Cranium
Pubic bone
Assessment of the associations of age with the classic skeletal sex indicators
title Assessment of the associations of age with the classic skeletal sex indicators
title_full Assessment of the associations of age with the classic skeletal sex indicators
title_fullStr Assessment of the associations of age with the classic skeletal sex indicators
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of the associations of age with the classic skeletal sex indicators
title_short Assessment of the associations of age with the classic skeletal sex indicators
title_sort assessment of the associations of age with the classic skeletal sex indicators
topic UCTD
Forensic anthropology
Sexual dimorphism
Morphoscopic
Cranium
Pubic bone
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/94596
https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.25217603