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Secondary sexual development in rural and urban South African black children.

The timing and duration of secondary sexual development in two samples of rural and urban South African black children were investigated using the Tanner staging techniques and compared to similar data from Switzerland and England. In general rural black children were consistently delayed in the age at which they entered the events of puberty, and took longer to pass through each of the stages. Urban black children, from good socioeconomic backgrounds, were advanced in relation to their rural peers and slightly ahead of the European samples. There were no significant differences in the sequence of events. Estimates of testicular volume on the well-off urban boys demonstrated that they exhibited similar volumes to European boys at similar ages. It is suggested that the British clinical longitudinal growth standards could be effectively used to sensitively monitor the growth and maturation of black urban children from good socioeconomic backgrounds.

Adolescent↗

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Menarcheal age in two generations of South African Indians.

Intergenerational and socioeconomic effects on menarcheal age were investigated in a sample of 146 mother-daughter pairs of South African Indians living in the urban area of Lenasia, Gauteng Province. Information on menarcheal age, socioeconomic status, and educational attainment of both parents was obtained by questionnaire. Data on menarcheal age of daughters were analysed by probit analysis and descriptive statistics. Mean maternal menarcheal age was 13.20 years (SD = 1.57) and was significantly greater than the menarcheal age of the postmenarcheal daughters at 12.52 years (SD = 1.25) and of mean menarcheal age analysed by probits of 12.40 years (SD = 1.18). Mother-daughter menarcheal ages were significantly correlated (r = 0.23; p < 0.035). This association was confounded by the significant association of maternal menarcheal age to the age at which mothers recalled that event (r = 0.32; p < 0.003). Partial correlations demonstrated that the mother-daughter correlation reduced to a non-significant 0.16 (p < 0.14) after maternal age at recall had been controlled. No significant associations were found between socioeconomic variables and menarcheal age except for family size, in which girls with more than three siblings had significantly later menarcheal ages than girls with three siblings. Secular trends for reduced menarcheal ages were evident in both the intergenerational data (0.24 years/decade) and in comparison to the data of Kark (1953) from four decades ago (0.27 years/decade).

Adolescent↗