Tumbuh-kembang anak laki-laki usia pra-puber rentan terhadap pengaruh lingkungan

Child growth and development is often used for a tool to monitor the health and nutrition status.This status expressed in the anthropometric measurements of the body. This research aimed to study how environment affected the velocity of circumferencs and skinfold measurements in boys and girls. Data were obtained from 501 boys and 621 girls from high socio-economic status Javanese children in Malang City; that were meausred twice within one year span. The other set of data came from Cape Coloured (CC) children. There were 292 boys from high socio-economic status in urban area, 282 boys from low socio-economic status in rural area, 330 girls from high socio-economic status, and 290 girls from low socio-economic status. The measurements were height, chest and arm circumferences, triceps, subscapula and abdominal skinfolds. The measurements of those groups were compared to each other. The differences were analyzed using Anova ( Bonferroni corrected). The results showed that there were significant differences of height and chest circumferences between high and low socio-economic status of boys. However, this did not happen to the girls. On the other hand, although having similar socio-economis status, the Javanese boys had greater velocities of abdominal skinfold thickness. It can be concluded that the difference in socio-economic status had caused differences in gowth and development as demonstated by the three measurements of the boys. The differences in ethnic group may caused several influences to the environment of the boys. This needs to be studied futher. It could be concluded too that during pre-pubertal growth and development, boys were more prone to differences in environmental factors than those of girls.