HEIGHT AND WEIGHT STANDARDS FOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

Comparisons among preschool children, presumably well nourished but of different ethnic background, indicate that differences in height and weight are relatively small, but differences in growth of preschool children associated with social class are many times those which can be attributed to ethnic factors alone.

Abstract

Comparisons among preschool children, presumably well nourished but of different ethnic background, indicate that differences in height and weight are relatively small—3% for height and about 6% for weight. In contrast, differences between these children and those, often of similar ethnic and geographical background, who live in the poor, urban and rural regions of developing countries approach 12% in height and 30% in weight. Thus, differences in growth of preschool children associated with social class, are many times those which can be attributed to ethnic factors alone. Therefore, height and weight standards chosen to represent optimal preschool growth can be drawn from already published studies of well-to-do children, regardless of race or ethnicity, because any racial or ethnic effect on mean preschool growth is small compared with environmental effects.