Original paper
Sex differences in the growth of stature and its component segments of Hong Kong Chinese children
Chan, Beatrice S. T.
Zeitschrift für Morphologie und Anthropologie Band 63 Heft 3 (1972), p. 323 - 340
17 references
published: Feb 8, 1972
ArtNo. ESP168006303002, Price: 19.00 €
Abstract
Height and its component segments (head and neck length, trunk length, sitting height and lower limb length) of 14,857 Southern Chinese children (8112 boys and 6745 girls) aged 6 to 20 years were studied in 1961-64. Both the boys and girls have similar trends of growth in stature and its component segments. The boys, however, have a greater growth than the girls throughout the ages studied except from 10 or 11 to 13 or 14 years, during which the girls exceed the boys. The sex difference is highly significant at adolescence, and is greater in lower limb length than in trunk length. The girls have an earlier acceleration of growth and an earlier adolescent growth spurt, and they mature earlier than the boys; the difference is about two years. On the other hand, the boys have a greater intensity of growth and a longer period of growth than the girls. In relation to stature, the head and neck is progressively shorter, the trunk first keeps pace with stature and is then progressively longer, and the lower limb is first progressively longer and then shorter as age advances. At adolescence, the girls have a relatively longer head and neck, a longer trunk but shorter legs than the boys. The head and neck segment is the most mature and grows least. The major gain in stature depends on the growth of the trunk and lower limb. In both sexes, the growth in trunk length is rather slow and prolonged, whereas the growth in the lower limb length is quick and rather short and is attained mostly in childhood and early adolescence. Therefore, the lower limb length grows relatively faster than the trunk length and sitting height in early school years, and the trunk length and sitting height grow relatively faster than the lower limb length in the later school years. The increase in stature, however, depends more on the growth in leg length than the growth in trunk length.
Kurzfassung
In einer Semilongitudinalstudie an südchinesischen (Hong Kong) Kindern und Jugendlichen wurden 8112 Jungen und 6745 Mädchen im Alter von sechs bis zwanzig Jahren anthropometrisch untersucht. Entsprechend den Ergebnissen aus anderen Rassenkreisen zeigten sich auch hier sexualbedingte Wachstumsunterschiede, so beispielsweise in der Körpergröße und der Stammlänge, die sich z. T. in der postpuberalen Entwicklungsphase noch verstärkten. Hinsichtlich der puberalen Entwicklungsbeschleunigung traten auch in dem vorliegenden Material die Mädchen an die erste Stelle, während die Jungen im Durchschnitt den vergleichbaren Reifezustand erst zwei Jahre später erreichten. Zum Schluß werden noch die Ergebnisse einiger weiterer Körpermaße, auch Relativmaße besprochen und im Sexualvergleich miteinander diskutiert.
Keywords
head • neck • trunk • lower limb • sitting height • growth • childhood • adolescence • sex • girls • boys • Hong Kong