Height in Relation to Puberty Family Size and Social Class: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

This paper examines the relation between the height of children, the size of family from which they come, the social and educational background of their parents, and the age at onset of puberty. The 1,557 boys and 1,456 girls included in this analysis are all those from the National Survey of Child Health and Development' who were measured at seven, eleven, and fifteen years, and whose stage of sexual maturation was described by the school doctors at special medical examinations given at the last two of these ages. A full description of the National Survey is given elsewhere.2 In brief, the sample consists of all the children of nonmanual and agricultural workers born in Great Britain during the first week in March 1946, and one quarter of the children born during that week to wives of manual workers and to those of self-employed men. Illegitimate children and twins were excluded. For the purpose of this study, the boys and girls were grouped in three ways. First, by the number of brothers and sisters they had