20대와 30~40대 여성의 상반신 신체치수 및 체형 비교 연구 - 30,40대 여성의 영캐주얼 브랜드 선호 현상에 따른 문제점 파악을 중심으로 -

Abstract

Women in their 30s and 40s, who are at the center of “ageless” and “down-aging” consumer trends, are likely to encounter problems with fitting and size conformity when they wear casual clothes targeting women in their 20s. Hence, differences in upper body sizes and body types between women in their 20s and women in their 30s and 40s were analyzed. The data for this study was from the 6th Size Korea survey of body measurements of 1,675 female adults in their 20s–40s. SPSS 21.0 for Windows was used for analysis of the collected data. To examine differences in average upper body size between women in their 20s and women in their 30s and 40s, descriptive statistics and independent sample t-tests were conducted. Factor and cluster analyses were used to classify body types by age groups. Comparing direct measurement items showed that women in their 20s tend to have higher average values for most height-related items—including body height—and lower average values for circumference, thickness, and width than women in their 30s and 40s. Factors in determining the upper body shapes of women in their 20s to 40s were narrowed to five; through a cluster analysis, upper body shapes of women were classified into three body types as follows. Type 1 women are shorter and thinner with small frames; Type 2 women have the highest vertical values for their upper bodies and average values for obesity-related categories of circumference, thickness, and width. Type 3 women are the shortest and has the highest body mass index (BMI), verifiable as obese. By analyzing differences in body type distribution according to age groups, it was found that more than 90% of women in their 20s belong to Types 1 and 2. On the other hand, most women in their 30s and 40s are identified as Type 3.