An Analysis for Multiple Factors of Physical Growth at Different Age Levels1

Many students of human growth have observed not only that there are rhythms of growth, but also that one type of growth seems to predominate at one time and another type of growth at another time. Thus, at the onset of adolescence, a spurt of growth of the long bones is often seen, which is followed later by an acceleration of growth of the cross-sectional measurements. Meredith (6) and Boynton (1) have both shown that the growth rate of subcutaneous fat tends to be reduced when linear and cross-sectional growth rates are accelerated, while the growth rate of fat accelerates when linear and cross-sectional growth rates decline. Such observations suggest a number of questions like the following: