Analysis of longitudinal data of height z-scores in kindergarten children
- Changes in body height throughout extended historic periods are very complex and dynamic processes. Thispilot study aimed to investigate the pattern of longitudinal height z-scores changes in children before and after entering kindergarten. In summer 2016, we measured height and weight of 32 children from 4 groups of two kindergartens aged 3–6 years. All ages were centered according to the age of entry into the kindergarten. For each child we determined mean z-scores for height before and after entering the kindergarten, and assessed the variances for each kindergarten group. Twenty-two children targeted in height z-scores towards average height of their respective kindergarten group, 10 children did not. Due to the small numbers, the convergence in height variance however, remained insignificant (chi-squared independence test, p = 0.127). Additional studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm this pilot study.
Author details: | Anna-Franziska Czernitzki, Christina PospisilORCiD, Martin MusalekORCiD, Rebekka MummORCiDGND, Christiane SchefflerORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2017/0708 |
ISSN: | 0003-5548 |
Pubmed ID: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28485754 |
Title of parent work (English): | Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie |
Subtitle (English): | a pilot study |
Publisher: | Schweizerbart science publishers |
Place of publishing: | Stuttgart |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2017/05/08 |
Publication year: | 2017 |
Release date: | 2022/09/13 |
Tag: | Height z-score; kindergarten children; secular trend; social signal; strategic growth adjustment |
Volume: | 74 |
Issue: | 2 |
Number of pages: | 4 |
First page: | 109 |
Last Page: | 112 |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Biochemie und Biologie |
DDC classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 57 Biowissenschaften; Biologie / 570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie |
Peer review: | Referiert |