Adolescent subcutaneous fat patterns are associated with pubertal maturity indicators and show stronger continuity with adulthood fatness than with childhood fatness.
Longitudinal principal components (LPC) analysis is used to summarize adolescent trends in subcutaneous fat thickness at three sites (biceps, suprailiac, and abdominal). For each site, component 1 (C1) represents fatness level, and component 2 (C2) represents an increase followed by a decrease (fat wave) in fatness. Components 3-5 (retained for girls only) represent more complicated patterns of change (multiple increases and decreases). Correlations among scores for C1 for each site and among scores for C2 for each site indicate a high correspondence of fatness level and the magnitude of the fat wave. Associations between components and other indicators of maturity are apparent, indicating that serial fat patterns are controlled to some degree by influences affecting other pubescent events. Continuity between childhood fatness levels and adolescent patterns of fatness are relatively weak. Continuity between adolescent and adulthood fatness is somewhat greater.
Cronk et al. (Wed,) studied this question.