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The categories of the rural population, farmers, farm-workers and landless rural inhabitants were variously affected by the economic crisis, as well as by the process of economic transformation. This shows that living conditions of each of those categories changed in different ways and to a different degree during the years 1967-2001. Farmers' families achieved the highest social advancement, as the AM of girls from those families decreased by 0.98 years compared to those from farmer-worker and landless rural families, which decreased by 0.85 and 0.60 years, respectively.

The age at menarche, body height and weight of the daughters of farmers, farmer-workers and landless villagers in a rural region of Poland were studied. In the period 1967-1977, a time of economic development, a decrease in age at menarche (by 0.74 years) and a secular trend in body height (by 2.4 cm/decade) was observed. In 1977-1987, a period of acute economic crisis, age at menarche increased by 0.16 years and the secular trend in body height was only 1.1 cm/decade. In 1987-2001, age at menarche decreased and body height increased by 0.28 years and 2.9 cm respectively. The percentage of families owning a car, freezer and video increased during this period. These last results are indicative of an improvement in living conditions, but the villagers regard themselves as losers as a result of the political transformation (1989) in Poland.

Menarcheal age of 5546 Warsaw girls studied in 1976 was estimated by probit analysis as 12.73+/-0.03 SD 1.10 and of 7771 rural girls studied during 1976-1978 as 13.40+/-0.02 SD 1.20. The difference was 0.67+/-0.04. The difference between the groups from Warsaw and rural areas where fathers had only primary education was 0.57+/-0.07 year, while that between the groups where fathers had the highest education in both localities was only 0.31+/-0.09. When in both environments the groups were equated both for primary fathers' education and also number of children in the family, the differences in menarcheal age were 0.37+/-0.28, 0.49+/-0.11 and 0.47+/-0.14 in families with one, two and three children, respectively. In rural areas the effects of fathers' education on menarcheal age of daughters was much higher than in Warsaw. The secular trend from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s was 0.25 years per decade in Warsaw and 0.64 years per decade in rural areas, suggesting a decrease of social differences in maturation rate of Polish girls. Menarcheal age is sensitive to even small differences in living conditions.

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