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Sex Differences in Skin Colour in Man

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

A. K. Kalla  and
S. C. Tiwari
A. K. Kalla*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi
S. C. Tiwari
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi
*
Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi 7, India

Summary

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Skin reflectances were obtained at 685 mμ wave length from the medial upper arm and the forehead regions among 105 Tibetan males and 105 Tibetan females, in order to study sex differences in human skin pigmentation. The forehead pigmentation of males was always found to be darker than that of females, and the difference to be significant during middle and late adolescence The medial upper arm pigmentation of girls was found to be darker than that of boys, during early adolescence; but during middle adolescence the two sexes exhibited just similar pigmentation and during late adolescence females emerged to be significantly lighter than males. The present study, thus, suggests that one of the factors causing sex differences in human skin pigmentation may be the physiological changes occurring during adolescence, which may be genetically determined.

Type
Research Article
Information
Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae: twin research , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , July 1970 , pp. 472 - 476
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Twin Studies 1970

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