Relationships among tempo of maturation, midparent height, and growth in height of adolescent boys and girls

Abstract

The influence of rate of skeletal maturation and midparent height on growth in height during adolescence was analyzed on longitudinal data for 184 boys and 166 girls from the Wrocław Growth Study. Seven biological parameters describing the shape of the growth curve in stature were derived from the Preece-Baines model 1 applied to individual serial data. Rate of skeletal maturation inferred from the difference between chronological and skeletal ages at 12 years in girls and 14 in boys. Principal components analysis of the biological parameters extracted three factors for boys and four for girls. The factors explained 90% and 97% of the total variance in boys and girls, respectively. The factors reflected attained size and the timing and intensity of the adolescent spurt in height. Multiple regression showed a high relationship between skeletal maturation rate, midparent height, and principal component scores. Three aspects of adolescent growth: size, timing, and intensity show an apparent sex difference. The timing and intensity of the spurt are highly affected by tempo of maturation in girls, but less so than in boys. It might suggest in girls a less efficient compensatory effect for reduced length of overall growth period in early maturers that increases height gain. Midparent height influences the size component during the spurt, thus adjusting the height parameters. The dependency between attained stature (height at take-off, PHV, and adult stature), timing, and initial intensity of the growth spurt of daughters and midparent height is greater than in sons.

Sexual dimorphism in growth in the relative length of the forearm and relative knee height during adolescence

“…Goodness of fit was judged by comparing the standard error of estimate and some estimate of the measurement error (Hauspie, Lindgren, Tanner, & Chrząstek‐Spruch, ). Next, an age at peak height velocity (APHV) was derived from the fitted model (Koziel, ; Preece & Baines, ). An APHV is a very informative measure of maturity timing and highly correlates with other estimates of maturation such as: bone age, percentage of adult height attainment, age of appearance of secondary sexual characteristics, menarcheal age (Bielicki, ; Bielicki, Koniarek, & Malina, ).…”

“…Therefore, during the adolescent period they attain a larger size than their male peers (Hauspie and Roelants, ; Preece, ). Nevertheless, considering the age relative to maturity timing, instead of chronological age, boys are usually larger and grow more intensively than girls (Koziel, ; Koziel, Hauspie, & Susanne, ). Therefore, to assess sex differences during adolescence, apart from different maturational time, age in relation to an estimate of maturity timing (regarding the adolescent growth spurt) should be considered.…”

Sonographic measurement of calcaneal volume for determination of skeletal age in children

“…Sex-dependent growth patterns have been studied in adolescents but not in infants or children. 9 Further studies of these patterns in children may reveal predictable differences between the sexes even during these early years of life.…”

Obesity and the clustering of cardiovascular disease risk factors in 14-year-old children

“…It has been shown that during the period of adolescent growth spurt, which in the Polish population occurs around 14 years of age (Kaczmarek 1995, Koziel 1997, attained height shows greater association with the tempo of maturation than with the adult height or midparental height (Bielicki 1976, Tanner el at. 1984, Koziel 2001. 1984, Koziel 2001.…”