BIOSOCIAL CORRELATES OF STATURE IN A BRITISH NATIONAL COHORT

• Published in: Journal of biosocial science Vol. 37; no. 2; pp. 245 - 251
• Main Authors: MASCIE-TAYLOR, C. G. N., LASKER, G. W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.03.2005
• Subjects: Adolescent; Biological and medical sciences; Body Height; Child; Children & youth; Class; Cohort Studies; Comparative analysis; Crowding; Female; Height; Humans; Income; Male; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Parents; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Regular Articles; Rural areas; Rural Population; Social Class; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomic status; United Kingdom; Urban areas; Urban Population; United Kingdom > UK; Statistical analysis; Socioeconomic status; Cohort study; Body size; Tropical medicine; Somatic growth; Social aspect; Public health
• ISSN: 0021-9320; 1469-7599
• DOI: 10.1017/S0021932004006558

Analyses of height variation using the 1970 UK national cohort study (12,508 children at age 10 and 5470 at age 16) found clear evidence that children of higher socioeconomic status (as measured by social class, crowding, tenure, type of accommodation, income and receipt of government financial assistance) were on average taller than children of lower socioeconomic status but there was little or no difference in average stature between children living in urban or rural areas. Significant differences in height remained for most of the variables after removing the effects of father’s social class suggesting that reliance on social class per se to explain height variation is inadvisable.