Longitudinal growth of high socioeconomic status Guatemalan children analyzed by the Preece-Baines function: An international comparison

Abstract

The Preece-Baines model I function, adapted for use with a personal computer, is applied to the longitudinal growth records of Guatemalan children and adolescents of high socioeconomic status. The fit of the Preece-Baines function to the Guatemalan data is compared with those of published analyses of the function fitted to the growth of British, Belgian, urban and rural Indian, Australian Aborigine, and African children. Guatemalan, British, and Belgian samples share generally favorable environments for human development and show few differences in the amount and velocity of growth, or in the timing of growth events. Urban Indians live under relatively good environmental conditions and are similar to Guatemalans in the timing of growth events, but grow more slowly and grow less than the Guatemalans, British, or Belgians. Rural Indian, Australian, and African samples live in environments that delay or retard growth, and these last-named three samples grow more slowly, delay the onset of the adolescent growth spurt, and achieve smaller adult height than the Guatemalans. Parameters of the Preece-Baines model are compared between all samples and show that there are several alternate paths in the rate of growth and the timing of adolescent growth events that may be taken from childhood to adulthood.