The photographs of 82 boys from the Harpenden Growth Study were assigned somatotype ratings at ages 5, 8, 11, 14, and 18 years, using both Sheldon's earlier, anthroposcopic method and his revised, objective method (somatotype II). Inter-judge correlations for the anthroposcopic ratings of the 18-year-olds ranged from 0.79 to 0.93 for the three components; correlations for the somatotype II ratings ranged from 0.94 to 0.99. The three components of the somatotype II ratings showed greater independence of one another than did those of the anthroposcopic method, which tended to collapse towards two dimensions. Correlations for corresponding components between the anthroposcopic and somatotype II ratings at the same age were mostly in the low 0.80s. Mean somatotype ratings changed little with age in either method, but the somatotype II ratings were consistently higher in endomorphy and mesomorphy and lower in ectomorphy than the anthroposcopic ratings. Patterns of inter-age correlations were similar within methods: endomorphy showed lower age-to-age correlations than did mesomorphy and ectomorphy. Correlations of anthroposcopic component ratings with ratings at age 18 increased distinctly from age 5 to age 8, less sharply thereafter. Between ages 8 and 18, within observer, they were 0.72, 0.83, and 0.82, for endomorphy, mesomorphy, and ectomorphy. These 8-to-18 correlations for mesomorphy and ectomorphy are similar in magnitude to those for height.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A longitudinal study of the growth in height of boys and girls of West Bengal (India) aged six months of 20 years.

This study is the first Indian longitudinal growth survey from early childhood to maturity. The heights of 303 boys and 260 girls, from middle-class families in a semi-urban area south of Calcutta, were measured at regular intervals over periods of up to 14 years (between 1952 and 1966). The data were analysed using appropriate mixed longitudinal and curve-fitting techniques. Growth in height of these middle-class Bengali children, who are not a representative sample of the Indian population, is slightly above the national Indian Council of Medical Research Standards. In both sexes, mean heights are below the 10th centile line of the British standards from an early age onwards, mainly due to a smaller prepubertal growth. The adolescent growth spurt in the Indians similar to that seen in British children, as is the age at which it occurs (peak height velocity at 14.0 years in boys, 12.5 years in girls). The sex difference of 14.0 cm in adult stature is attributable to a greater adolescent gain in the boys of 6.0 cm, a greater height in boys at the girls' age at take-off of 3.3 cm and a gain in height by the boys of 4.7 cm between the girls' and boys' ages at take-off.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Investigation of the mid-growth spurt in height, weight and limb circumferences in single-year velocity data from the London, 1966-67 growth survey.

In the 1966-67 London County Council Survey, some 10 000 children were measured twice, on occasions one year apart. Mean single-year velocities were calculated for each successive 6-month period from age centre 5 1/2 to maturity, for height, weight, upper arm and calf circumferences and triceps and subscapular skinfolds. The velocity curves, in which successive points are independently ascertained, were examined for evidence of a mid-growth spurt. In weight and limb circumferences there was a clear increase of velocity occurring from about 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 in girls and from 7 to 8 in boys. From the end of the mid-growth spurt to the beginning of the adolescent spurt, about three years later, weight velocity remained constant, but limb circumferences velocities mostly dropped. All or most of these changes in velocity can be accounted for by changes in rate of fat deposition. Girls showed no evidence of a mid-growth spurt in height, but boys had a diminution of deceleration, or relative spurt, from about 6 to about 7. These results could be accounted for if some, but not all, individual children have mid-growth height spurts. Graphs of the single-year actual-increment medians show slight differences from the standard population velocity medians, the actual-increment curves being a little more complicated than the smoothed standards.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Radiographically determined widths of bone muscle and fat in the upper arm and calf from age 3-18 years.

In the Harpenden Growth Study arm and calf radiographs were taken on 280 boys and 225 girls twice a year over varying periods. Widths of bone, muscle and fat halfway down the arm and at maximum calf diameter were measured, with widths of bone cortex and medulla where possible. Mean distance and velocity curves are given for chronological age 3-18 years together with curves based on time from peak-height velocity (PHV) and time from peak muscle velocity over the pubertal period. Muscle widths have their peak velocity more nearly coincident with the sitting height peak than with PHV; in the average child the whole muscle spurt lasts two years from start to finish. Calf muscle is much more pronounced in girls in comparison with boys than is arm muscle; this is true at all ages, with sex differences at maturity amounting to 10% for calf and 20% for arm. Humerus cortex has a marked spurt in both sexes, with the peak contemporaneous with the muscle peak. Both humerus and tibia medulla widths have a spurt in boys, but none in girls, where the means do not change from age 11 onwards. The average girl actually loses fat in the arm for a year at puberty, a result which contrasts with the velocity curve derived from mass cross-sectional data. Correlations between widths of bone in arm and calf average 0.5 during the pre-adolescent years and 0.4 at maturity; those between muscle widths in arm and calf 0.4 in pre-adolescence and 0.4 again at maturity. Between-tissue correlations are very low at all ages.

Adipose Tissue↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Degree of resemblance of the pattern of growth among sibs in families of West Bengal (India).

The Preece-Baines Model 1 curve has been fitted to longitudinal data on growth in height of 105 boys and girls in 70 Bengal families: 60 of these were sibs distributed in 25 families. For a number of growth characteristics, such as age at peak height velocity, the proportion of the total population variance that was due to variation between, as opposed to within, families was estimated by Smith's (1980) method. The proportions for age at take-off of the adolescent spurt, of age at PHV, and of PHV itself were 22%, 26% and 33% (where adult height gives a value of about 40%). The sample is small and these estimates have high standard errors and need confirmation.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A longitudinal analysis of the growth of limb segments in adolescence.

The growth of upper and lower-limb segments of 96 adolescent boys and girls from the Royal Hospital School Longitudinal Study was analysed. Preece-Baines Model 1 curves were fitted to the longitudinal data to obtain, for each measurement, age at peak velocity and the magnitude of this velocity. Mean-constant peak velocities were between 1-0 and 2-5 cm/yr in all segments. They were in all cases greater than the values obtained from fitting the P-B curve to the cross-sectional means at successive ages. Boys had greater peak velocities than girls in all measurements (sex ratio 1-1 to 1-4). On average distal segments preceded more proximal segments in the ages at which peak velocity occurred. Considerable individual differences, however, occurred in the order for the upper limb segments. These differences seemed to be related to the individual's tempo of growth; late developers had a significantly different order to early developers.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Increase in length of leg relative to trunk in Japanese children and adults from 1957 to 1977: comparison with British and with Japanese Americans.

The secular trends in height, sitting height and leg length in Japanese children have been studied by fitting Preece-Baines Model I curves to the annual mean values from ages five to 17 of school data collected in 1957, 1967 and 1977. The method provides estimates of final adult value, and of age of maximum annual increment. Between 1957 and 1977 the maximal increments in height, sitting height and leg length all became earlier, by about a year in boys and a little less in girls. Japanese now mature about a year earlier than North Europeans. Adult height increased by 4.3 cm in boys and 2.7 cm in girls between 1957 and 1977, the increment being less in the second decade than in the first. Sitting height showed practically no increase whatever; almost the whole secular trend was due to change in leg length. Japanese now have trunk/leg proportions much more similar to those of North Europeans than was the case 20 years ago, but their adult height remains about one standard deviation lower.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

London Archive of Longitudinal Growth Data.

An Archive of longitudinal growth data, accessible to research workers under the usual safeguards, has been set up in the Department of Growth and Development. The present S.I.R. database contains seven British and one Indian study. The Archive is open to receive other contributions if researchers wish.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The growth of boys in the Stuttgart Carlschule, 1771-93.

Height measurements taken in a mixed longitudinal manner on 1084 German-born boys aged 7 to 21+ at the Carlschule Academy in Stuttgart during the period 1771-93 have been examined. The boys can be divided into upper (aristocrat), middle and lower (artisan, servant) classes, nearly all housed and fed in this boarding school. Preece-Baines curves have been fitted to a subsample of 155 boys whose measurements cover at least the period 12-16 years at a density of two or three per year. In addition, the whole data, totalling 11,040 observations, have been examined as if purely cross-sectional; and the height-at-entry measurement for each of 670 students has been examined. The results of the longitudinal subsample and the cross-sectional analyses agree reasonably well. Social class differences existed both in tempo of growth as signified by age at peak height velocity, and in adult height. The longitudinal analysis gives adult differences of about 2 cm between upper and middle classes and a further 2 cm between middle and lower, even amongst these boys all resident in the same, very privileged, school. Tempo differences between upper and middle class were minor, amounting to only 0.3 year, but lower-class boys had their maximum growth increment about a year later than the others. Amongst middle classes a secular trend of about 2 cm averaged over all ages was found between those born before 1770 and those born later. This mainly represents a trend in tempo rather than in adult height. The heights of these boys are compared with those of contemporary Austrian upper and lower classes, English upper and lower classes, American Army cadets, and American slaves. The increase in German middle-class heights during the 18th century indicates that this group was improving its nutritional status and well-being, at a time when the heights of the remainder of the population were constant or declining. This is evidence in favour of the view that at the beginning of economic development the distribution of income tends to become more skewed.

Adolescent↗