著者

小川 好則 宮坂 祥夫 今泉 和彦 吉野 峰生

出版者

日本法科学技術学会

雑誌

日本法科学技術学会誌 (ISSN:18801323)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.1, pp.1-13, 2010 (Released:2010-02-27)

参考文献数

27

被引用文献数

1 1

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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability of a craniometric sex estimation method proposed by Hanihara (1959) by using the latest cranial samples. A total of 80 males and 43 females with the current Japanese measurement data [NRIPS data] were collected from the archives kept in the National Research Institute of Police Science, Japan. Cranial samples used ranged in birth year from 1920 to 1979 (late Taisho to mid Showa era) and was restricted to subjects who were over 19 years of age at death.   The means of NRIPS data were compared with those of Hanihara‘s data concerning eight measurement items (Maximum cranial length, Maximum cranial breadth, Basion-bregmatic height, Bizygomatic breadth, Upper facial height, Bigonial breadth, Mental height, Ramal height). In addition, to assess the accuracy of the sex estimation function, the NRIPS data were applied to seven discriminant functions reported by Hanihara.   Results indicated that the means of the NRIPS were significantly greater in comparison to the Hanihara data except for maximum cranial length in both sexes, mental height in males and upper facial height in females. The error rate for sex estimation in male crania was relatively low (3.6-5.7%), but was extremely high in females (30.8-52.0%). With reference to several items of the discriminant functions, the error rates obtained were significantly different from the original error rates reported.   The present study suggests that the application of the discriminant functions based on old population data may cause a decrease in the reliability of sex estimation in the current Japanese population.