Sex Estimation from Postcranial Measurements in Filipino Mortuary Remains

Abstract

Filipino populations are under-studied in the field of forensic anthropology. The development of population-specific analyses for those of Filipino descent is critical in an increasingly globalized world with a growing diaspora of Filipino individuals. The objectives of this study are to broaden our knowledge of sexual dimorphism and to contribute to standard forensic methods.

The sample consisted of 39 adult individuals (25 males and 14 females) of Filipino ancestry from the Manila North Cemetery in Manila, Philippines. Using this sample, discriminant function models for sex estimation that generated the highest separation power were generated. These models were cross-validated using a .632+ bootstrap method with 1,000 iterations. Humeral head diameter and anterior-posterior diameter of the radius produced the highest accuracy (>99%) for sex discrimination. Multivariate models were shown to be more powerful than univariate models. The results are discussed in the context of inter-population differences in sexual dimorphism.