Effect of familial distress on growth and maturation of girls: a longitudinal study

A longitudinal sample of girls (N = 271), all born during the same year, were examined at yearly intervals during a period of 11 (N = 174) or 8 years (N = 97). The data gathered included the following: age at menarche, anthropometric dimensions, skeletal maturity scores with the TW2 method, and questionnaire information about the present and past socioeconomic situation and family dynamics. The girls were divided into two groups. Group A (N = 207) comprised girls who lived in families free of strong traumatic events. Group B (N = 64) included girls whose family dysfunction exposed them to prolonged distress. Two anthropometric dimensions were central to the analysis: height and subischial leg length. Age at attaining four different maturity stages were also used: age at menarche, age at a Carpal score of 1,000, age at the RUS score of 1,000, and age at the total bone score of 995. The mean age at menarche of girls from group A was 13.3 years and that for girls in group B was 12.9 (F = 6.295, P < 0.01). There was no correlation between age and height at final stages of skeletal maturation, i.e., at a total bone score of 995 or a RUS score of 1,000 in group A. There was no significant difference in height between girls whose skeletal maturity was completed early and those in whom it was completed late. Girls from group B, whose skeletal maturity was reached earlier, were shorter than those who grew until a later age. In group B, the stature was positively correlated with the age at which the late stages of skeletal maturation was attained (r = 0.26 at a RUS score of 1,000 and r = 0.28 at a total bone score of 995, P < 0.05). Regardless of the ages at which any of the four maturity levels were reached by girls from group A, they were, on average, taller than those from group B at the same maturity level. Only at a RUS score of 1,000, when the sample size is reduced, the difference was not significant. The results show that girls exposed to familial distress are more likely to have an early puberty, which is associated with short final stature.