An Analysis of Relationships between Menarche and Attained Body Size

Abstract

The extent of contribution of body weight, height and age to the attainment at menarche was evaluated in a sample of 275 Japanese girls. The means of age, height and weight at menarche were 12.5 SD 0.89 years, 151.1 SD 5.73cm and 42.3 SD 5.75kg, respectively. According to the bivariate correlation analysis between age and height, and age and weight at menarche, height increased (r=0.406, slope=2.603) while weight did not increase significantly with an increase in menarcheal age (r=0.104). The increase of height does not support the invariance of mean height proposed by MATSUBAYASHI (1932), and the random distribution of weight does not support the particular value of weight on the menarcheal sttainment (FRISCH and REVELLE, 1971). However, our finding does not deny the role of weight on menarche, and the weight correlated with the menarcheal status (not attained, 0, versus attained, 1) at each chronological age. An existence of a threshold body size was suggested as one of possibilities to describe the observed relationship.