@article{SchefflerRogolIancuetal.2021, author = {Scheffler, Christiane and Rogol, Alan D. and Iancu, Mirela and Hanc, Tomasz and Moelyo, Annang Giri and Suchomlinov, Andrej and Lebedeva, Lidia and Limony, Yehuda and Musalek, Martin and Veldre, Gudrun and Godina, Elena Z. and Kirchengast, Sylvia and Mumm, Rebekka and Groth, Detlef and Tutkuviene, Janina and B{\"o}ker, Sonja and Ozer, Basak Koca and Navazo, Barbara and Spake, Laure and Koziel, Slawomir and Hermanussen, Michael}, title = {Growth during times of fear and emotional stress}, series = {Human biology and public health}, journal = {Human biology and public health}, number = {2}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {2748-9957}, doi = {10.52905/hbph.v2.15}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Twenty-one scientists met for this year's virtual conference on Auxology held at the University Potsdam, Germany, to discuss child and adolescent growth during times of fear and emotional stress. Growth within the broad range of normal for age and sex is considered a sign of good general health whereas fear and emotional stress can lead to growth faltering. Stunting is a sign of social disadvantage and poor parental education. Adverse childhood experiences affect child development, particularly in families with low parental education and low socioeconomic status. Negative effects were also shown in Indian children exposed prenatally and in early postnatal life to the cyclone Aila in 2009. Distrust, fears and fake news regarding the current Corona pandemic received particular attention though the effects generally appeared weak. Mean birth weight was higher; rates of low, very and extremely low birth weight were lower. Other topics discussed by the participants, were the influences of economic crises on birth weight, the measurement of self-confidence and its impact on growth, the associations between obesity, peer relationship, and behavior among Turkish adolescents, height trends in Indonesia, physiological neonatal weight loss, methods for assessing biological maturation in sportsmen, and a new method for skeletal age determination. The participants also discussed the association between acute myocardial infarction and somatotype in Estonia, rural-urban growth differences in Mongolian children, socio-environmental conditions and sexual dimorphism, biological mortality bias, and new statistical techniques for describing inhomogeneity in the association of bivariate variables, and for detecting and visualizing extensive interactions among variables.}, language = {en} } @article{SchefflerHermanussen2021, author = {Scheffler, Christiane and Hermanussen, Michael}, title = {Stunting does not impair physical fitness in Indonesian school children}, series = {Human biology and public health}, journal = {Human biology and public health}, number = {2}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {2748-9957}, doi = {10.52905/hbph.v2.19}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Background: Physical fitness is decreased in malnourished children and adults. Poor appearance and muscular flaccidity are among the first signs of malnutrition. Malnutrition is often associated with stunting. Objectives: We test the hypotheses that stunted children of low social strata are physically less fit than children of high social strata. Sample: We investigated 354 school girls and 369 school boys aged 5.83 to 13.83 (mean 9.54) years from three different social strata in Kupang (West-Timor, Indonesia) in 2020. Methods: We measured height, weight, and elbow breadth, calculated standard deviation (SDS) of height and weight according to CDC references, and the Frame index as an indicator of long-term physical fitness, and we tested physical fitness in standing long jump and hand grip strength. Results: Children of low social strata are physically fittest. They jump longer distances, and they have higher values in the Frame index. No association exists between height SDS and physical fitness, neither in respect to standing long jump, nor to hand grip strength. Conclusion: Stunting does not impair physical fitness in Indonesian school children. Our results support the concept that SEPE (social-economic-political-emotional) factors are involved in the regulation of human growth.}, language = {en} } @article{RoeslerSchefflerHermanussen2023, author = {R{\"o}sler, Antonia and Scheffler, Christiane and Hermanussen, Michael}, title = {No evidence of growth impairment after forced migration in Polish school children after World War II}, series = {Human biology and public health}, volume = {1}, journal = {Human biology and public health}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {2748-9957}, doi = {10.52905/hbph2023.1.68}, pages = {8}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Background: Migration is omnipresent. It can come hand in hand with emotional stress which is known to influence the growth of children. Objective: The aim of this study was to analyse whether type of migration (forced or voluntary) and the geographic direction had influenced the growth of Polish children after World War II. Sample and Methods: A sub dataset of 2,208 individuals between the ages of 2-20, created from data of the 2nd Polish Anthropological Survey carried out in 1966-1969, including anthropometrical data and social and demographic information based on questionnaire, was used to analyse migration effects. Results: No association could be found between the direction of migration and the height of the children. The confidence intervals of the means of all classified migration categories overlap significantly and the effect size of the influence of migration category on height is ds=.140, which is too low to see any effects, even if there were one. Conclusion: Neither forced nor voluntary migration in Poland after World War II led to a change in height in children of migrating families.}, language = {en} }