Abstract The growth of a child is of prime importance to all the parents in the world. Studies on growth and development of children in a community provide important information about the nutritional status of the community. Growth and development are unique in each person with limits of normalcy.
The present study was conducted on early adolescent children of following age groups
i) 9 to 10 years,
ii) 10 to 11 years and
iii) 11 to 12 years.
The subjects selected for study were from the schools selected by random sampling from Rural and Urban areas of Satara District of Maharashtra State. The subjects consist of 1800 males and 1800 females of each age group from both H.I.G. and L.I.G; with total number of subjects are 3600.
Ten different anthropometric measurements were studied. Written informed consent from parents of subject and ascent of subject were obtained prior to the study. The present study was undertaken with the aim to comprehend the growth Patterns of early adolescent children of
1. The age group of 9 to12 years.
2. School children belonging to both the genders.
3. Belonging to two different socio-economic strata.
Present study revealed that there is a difference in growth rate between the different age groups i.e. 9 to 10, 10 to 11, 11 to 12 years in the L.I.G. as well as in H.I.G. and there is a significant difference between Males and Females in these age groups and socio-economic groups. In almost all studies we have observed that H.I.G. values are always greater than L.I.G. values in all the age groups. The growth of L.I.G. can be increased up to the growth of H.I.G. with nutritional supplements. The data may be useful to the applicants to understand the growth pattern in school children of age group of 9 to12 years as influenced by the socio-economic factors.
Keywords: Growth Pattern; Anthropometric Measurements; Early Adolescent Children.