LB UC-NRLF $B 315 GIFT OF 8061 '12 W IVd *A 'N ' Heights and Weights of New York City Children 14 to 16 Years of Age A Study of Measurements of Boys and Girls Granted Employment Certificates BY LEE K. FRANKEL, Ph.D., Sixth Vice- President i/ AND LOUIS I. DUBLIN, Ph.D., Statistician Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York 1916 Heights and Weights of New York City Children 14 to 16 Years of Age* A STUDY OF MEASUREMENTS OF BOYS AND GIRLS GRANTED EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES The New York State Labor Law provides that no child between the ages of 14 and 16 shall be employed in a factory or in a mercantile or other specified establishment, unless he or she is in possession of an employment certificate. As a con- dition for granting this certificate, the law requires that the child shall have completed the work prescribed for the first six years of the elementary schools, and that in the opinion of the issuing officer the child shall have reached the normal development for his age. He must be in sound health, as de- termined by a thorough medical examination, and must be physically able to perform the work he intends to do. As the law in no way controls the nature of the work which the child may be called upon to do, except by prohibiting his employ- ment in dangerous trades, it can readily be seen that the only construction of this law which will adequately protect the child is to determine his physical fitness for any work in which he may lawfully engage. This investigation has concerned itself in part with the determination of certain norms of phys- ical development which may serve as a guide to those upon whom devolves the duty of issuing employment certificates. Height and weight are obviously important factors in the examination to determine physical fitness, but emphatically so in the decision of the medical officer as to the normal develop- ment of each applicant. Hence, the chief object of this investi- *An abstract of this paper was read before the Eighth Congress of the American School Hygiene Association, San Francisco, June, 1915. The authors desire to acknowledge their indebtedness to Miss J. V. Minor, Assistant Secretary of the New York Child Labor Committee, who suggested this study; to Dr. S. S. Goldwater, former Commissioner; to Dr. Haven Emerson, Commissioner; to Dr. S. Josephine Baker, Director of the Bureau of Child Hygiene, Department of Health of the City of New York; and to Mr. I. S. Adlerblum, of the Statistical Bureau, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, under whose immediate direction the tabu- lations contained in this paper were made. 1 345859 gation is to establish the normal height and weight of children between the ages of !4 and 16. The normal measurements for a given age can be arrived at only by a statistical study of a considerable number of cases. For this purpose, the Board of Health of New York City, at the request of the writers, turned over to them the records of the 10,043 children who had re- ceived certificates during the nine months beginning July 13, 1914, and ending April 12, 1915. To be sure, a number of investigations have been made on the heights and weights of children. The subject received its impulse from the well-known anthropometric researches of Quetelet. In England, notable studies were made by Galton, Roberts, Greenwood and others. An early investigation of the subject in this country was made by Bowditch in 1877 in the city of Boston. Subsequent studies were made by Peckham in Milwaukee, Porter in St. Louis, Boas in Worcester, Oakland and Toronto, and by a number of other investigators. But these studies concerned themselves with children at school, while our data deal with children who are on the point of leav- ing school to go to work. Moreover, the number of children between the age limits of 14 and 16 covered in the other inves- tigations was in every case comparatively small. Thus, Bowditch's data included only 2,678 children, and the investi- gations carried on in the other five cities combined were based on an aggregate of 5,514 children 14 to 16 years of age. Our study is based on a much larger number of observations, namely, on 10,043 children, and is, therefore, more representa- tive for children at these ages. The records of the Health Department were transcribed on cards, and the following information was abstracted in each case: sex, color, birthplace of child, birthplace of father, mother- tongue, age, .height, weight, grade in school, and vari- ous other items pertaining to the condition of the applicant's health. The foregoing items were tabulated, either singly or in combination, to give the data of this investigation. We shall first dispose of a few preliminary items such as sex, age, and school grade of the children, and shall then proceed with the consideration of their height and weight. SEX Of the 10,043 children, 5,393, or 53.7%, were boys, and 4,650, or 46.3%, were girls. The preponderance of boys over girls is found during each of the four half-years, as is shown in Table 1 below. AGE Ages are stated in years and months, a fraction of a month being counted as a full month. For example, a child of age 14 years and 2 days at the time of examination, was put into the age-group 14 and 1 month. There were thus 24 age- groups of 1 month each, starting at age 14 years and 1 month, and ending at age 15 years and 12 months. These were re- arranged into quarter, half and full year age-groups. The children were distributed by half-year age-periods as follows : TABLE 1 Number and Percentage of New York Boys and Girls, Ages 14 to 16, Granted Employment Certificates Classified by Half-year Age-periods AGE-PERIOD BOYS GIRLS Number Per cent, of Total Number Per cent, of Total 14 -16 5,393 100.0 4,650 100.0 14 -14 2,002 1,403 1,263 725 37.1 26.0 23.4 13.4 1,624 1,203 1,141 682 34.9 25.9 24.5 14.7 14J-1S 15 -15|.. . .... 15|-16 The first half-year period contains the largest proportion of children. Each of the succeeding half-years shows a regu- larly diminishing number. It is perhaps noteworthy that the excess at the first age- period is more marked in boys than in girls, 37.1% of all the former being in the first half-year, as against 34.9% of the latter. In the second half-year the pro- portion of boys and of girls is about equal, 26.0% of the for- mer and 25.9% of the latter. In the third and fourth half- years the ratio of girls to the total of their sex is higher than the corresponding figure for boys, compensating, of course, for the reverse relationship obtaining during the first year. Age 15 to 15J includes 23.4% of the boys and 24.5% of the girls, and age 15J to 16 embraces 13.4% of the boys and 14.7% of the girls. GRADE Table 2 gives the distribution of the boys and girls by school grade for the two-year period. 3 TABLE 2 Number and Percentage of Boys and Girls, Ages 14 to 16 Classified by School Grade SCHOOL GRADE BOYS GIRLS Number Per cent, of Total Number Per cent, of Total All grades 5,393 100.0 4,650 100.0 7A.. 1,924 629 416 467 1,647 287 5 18 35.7 11.7 7.7 8.7 30.5 5.3 .1 .3 1,607 586 394 297 1,461 287 1 17 34.6 12.6 8.5 6.4 31.4 6.2 .4 7B.. 8A. 8B . Graduates High School Vocational . Unknown. . In view of the requirements of the law demanding the completion of the sixth grade, it is not surprising to find that the children in Grade 7A contributed the largest number, 35.7% of the boys and 34.6% of the girls. The graduates formed 30.5% of the boys and 31.4% of the girls. These two groups together contributed approximately 66% for each sex. Only a small number of high school children are represented, namely, 5.3% of the boys and 6.2% of the girls. The re- mainder are distributed among the other school grades. The above considerations show clearly the effect of the present law on the composition of the children who apply for work papers. The largest groups as to age were those in the first half-year period. From the distribution by grade, we find similarly that the minimum grade, 7 A, contributed the largest number of children. In fact, 2,002 boys, distributed over the various grades, waited until they were just old enough, before applying for employment certificates. In addition, 1,924 boys who were eligible as to age were obliged to wait until they had reached the minimum grade. These two groups have 73 1 boys in common, that is, boys who have just satisfied the minimum requirements, both as to age and grade, before applying for certificates. Deducting these 731, who are common to the two groups, we obtain 3,195 out of a total of 5,393, or 59.2% of the boys who, lacking either in age or in school grade require- ment, waited until they were just eligible under the law to apply for employment certificates. The corresponding figure for the girls is 56.2%. Whatever the cause of this condition may be, it is quite obvious that these children took advantage of the privileges which were accorded them, under the law exempting them from school attendance, at their first opportunity. HEIGHT Heights given in the Health Department records are for children in shoes, to the nearest quarter-inch. Comparative tests made by the examiners showed that the shoes gave an error in the net heights of from f to 1 inch for boys, and from Ij to 2 inches for girls. In the following tabulations, heights are given in one-inch units, each including all values to the next unit; thus r 61 inches includes 61|, 61 J and 61f inches. The following table gives the distribution of the boys and girls for the two-year period, by heights in inches: TABLE 3 Number and Percentage of Boys and Girls, Ages 14 to 16, at Each Inch of Height Also Average Heights, Standard Deviations and Quartile Heights. HEIGHT (Inches) BOYS GIRLS Number Per cent. Number Per cent. 54 and under 55 22 71 129 250 384 470 641 650 666 605 527 389 263 155 76 90 .4 1.3 2.4 4.6 7.1 8.7 11.9 12.1 12.3 11.2 9.8 7.2 5.0 2.9 1.4 1.7 18 17 76 152 357 542 822 781 694 512 322 180 107 47 14 9 .4 .4 1.6 3.3 7.7 11.7 17.7 16.8 14.9 11.0 6.9 3 9 2.3 1.0 .3 .2 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64.. 65.. 66 67 68 69 and over. Total 5,393 100.0 4,650 100.0 Average height Standard deviation ( > \ B 5 s 1 \ s s. "II 1 la \ 1 \ I /> \ \ V i / \ \ \ /!" a \ s y . : 7 i \ \ \ 71 *-J | , \ i n .\ \ \ y J" i ~ i ! s \ \ X "/ / & g III? f SS3S I p ' -\ s ^ a _ >' II | !! 1 "V *M ^ -H a* Si 3 3 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 C6 67 68 69 70 71 72 7 Heights in Inches year period. The solid line represents the boys, and the broken line the girls. The lesser variability of the girls is evident from the greater concentration of the cases about the mean. It is also interesting to note that the position of the first quar- tile point, that is, the height below which 25% of the cases are found, is almost identical for the two sexes; it is 59.91 inches for the boys, and 59.88 inches for the girls. On the other hand, the third quartile points, or the heights below which 75% of the cases are included, are more widely separated, being 64.17 inches for boys, and 62.93 inches for girls. As has already been pointed out, the boys are taller than the girls, the averages being 61.99 and 61.35 inches respectively, or a difference of .64 inch. The actual difference between the average heights is even greater, because of the fact that the girls wear higher heels. Accurate figures are not available, but it is safe to say that an additional half -inch may be added to the above figure (.64 inch) to give the net difference in the average heights of the two sexes. This difference is somewhat greater than that found by other observers. The data of Bowditch,* for example, give a net difference of .47 inch in favor of the boys for the two-year period, and those of Boasf give a difference of only .10 inch. These sex comparisons are much more significant, however, when made for each of the two years, and not for the two years combined; for the height relations of the two sexes present important differences in the individual years. This leads us to a discussion of gain in height of boys and girls during the two years covered in our investigation. It must be emphasized that our study is an extensive and not an in- tensive one. Our data do not cover individual children, each studied at various stages of development. Each child, at whatever age, was under observation only once. The following table gives the average heights for each of the eight quarter-year periods for the boys and girls: *H. P. Bowditch, "The Growth of Children" (8th Annual Report of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts), Boston, 1877. fFranz Boas, "The Growth of Toronto Children" (Report of the Com- missioner of Education for 1896-7), Washington, 1898. Boas and Wissler, "Statistics of Growth" based on a study of school children in Worcester, Mass. (Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1904), Washington, 1905. Franz Boas, "Changes in Bodily Form of Descendants of Immigrants" (Vol. 38. Reports of the Immigration Commission), Washington, 1911. TABLE 4 Number and Average Height of Boys and Girls for Ages 14 to 15 and 15 to 16 and for Each Quarter-year. AGE- PERIOD AND SEX WHOLE YEAR FIRST QUARTER SECOND QUARTER THIRD QUARTER FOURTHQUARTER No. of Children Average Height (Inches) No. of Children Average Height (Inches) No. of Chil- dren Average Height (Inches) No. of Chil- dren Average Height (Inches) No. of Chil- dren Average Height (Inches) Age 14-15 Boys Girls 3,405 2,827 61.55 61.19 1,216 1,033 61.14 61.12 786 591 61.52 61.21 724 623 61.72 61.22 679 580 62.13 61.29 Age 15-16 Boys Girls 1,988 1,823 62.74 61.59 698 616 62.44 61.43 565 525 62.74 61.39 446 409 62.96 61.93 279 273 63.15 61.83 The facts of this table are presented in Graph B. The solid line represents the boys and the broken line the girls. The heights of the boys increase regularly with age. This is evident from the fact that their line of growth is almost straight. Girls, on the other hand, remain almost constant in height during the first year. Thereafter, their height in- creases irregularly; the greatest height is reached in the seventh- GRAPH B Average Height of Boys and Girls, Ages 14 to 16, at each Quarter-year Period BOYS GIRLS < l.-14iyrs.l 14i-14iyrs.l 14i-15yrs. I 15-151 yrs. I 15| -15i; (BO,, 12*1 6 786 724 679 698 665* (.Girl, 1033 60 Age 14-141 y 60 15 T- 16 * rs tta. 279 5393 273 4650 591 724 623 679 580 698 616 565 625 446 409 8 quarter. In the two years under consideration, the boys increase 2.01 inches. The girls increase only .71 inch, al- though the range between minimum and maximum height of girls is .81 inch, which is attained in the seventh quarter. It may be seen that, although the height of girls is virtually sta- tionary in the first of these two years, it increases nearly as much as that of the boys in the second year. These figures are in marked contrast to those of Boas, who found for Toronto chil- dren a difference of over 3.46 inches for boys, and of 1.69 inches for girls, from the first to the eighth quarters in these two years. If we take the figures from year to year, instead of by quarter-years, we find a difference of 1.19 inches for boys between the 15th and 16th years; and for girls a difference of ,40 inch. Bowditch found, among Boston children, increases of 2.42 and 1.16 inches for boys and girls, respectively. In like manner, Boas showed that the Toronto boys increased 2.40 inches, and the girls 1.07 inches, between the 15th and 16th years. The growth of the Boston and Toronto children in this period is, therefore, about twice that of the New York children. A number of factors may be cited in explanation of this condition: First may be mentioned the difference in the racial composition of the children in the several cities, there being a preponderance of Jewish and Italian children among those covered by the present investigation. Again, the New York children are a selected group, the taller and heavier being generally the first to leave school to apply for work papers. This results in the height at the beginning (age 14) being some- what greater than that of the children who remained in school, and thus reduces the amount of gain in height in the period under observation. We shall meet with like differences when we take up other characteristics of the New York children. WEIGHTS The weights of these children were taken in ordinary clothing, to the nearest quarter-pound. Boys' jackets were not removed, but outer cloaks were removed. The Depart- ment of Health had no data on the average weight of the children's clothes. Bowditch, however, is authority for the statement that the average weight of the clothes of boys at 14 years is 8.09 pounds; of boys at 15 years, 8.08 pounds; of girls at 14 years, 7.54 pounds; and of girls at 15 years, 7.85 pounds.* Table 5 gives the distribution of the children by weight in five-pound groups for the two-year period TABLE 5 Number and Percentage of Boys and Girls, Ages 14 to 16, for Each Five Pounds of Weight; Also Average Weights, Standard Deviations and Quartile Weights WEIGHT (Pounds) BOYS GIRLS Number Per cent. Number Per cent. 65- 69.... 3 15 182 396 394 522 601 622 554 551 476 391 237 165 102 58 52 23 19 7 23 0.06 0.28 3.37 7.34 7.31 9.68 11.14 11.53 10.27 10.22 8.83 7.25 4.39 3.06 1.89 1.08 0.96 0.43 0.35 0.13 0.43 1 7 80 227 330 480 624 655 566 506 417 269 178 113 69 36 20 23 8 12 29 0.02 0.15 1.72 4.88 7.10 10.32 13.42 14.09 12.17 10.88 8.97 5.78 3.83 2.43 1.48 0.77 0.43 0.49 0.17 0.26 0.62 70- 74. . 75- 79. . 80- 84. . 85- 89. . 90- 94. . 95- 99. . 100-104. . 105-109. . 110-114. . . 115-119 120-124 125-129 130-134 135-139 140-144 145-149 150-154 155-159 160-164 165 and over.. Total 5,393 100.00 4,650 100.00 Average weight , Standard deviation (a) . .. . First quartile Second quartile (Median). Third quartile BOYS (Pounds) 105.71 17.25.112 93.31 104.57 117.03 GIRLS (Pounds) 105.73 16.00.112 95.18 104.27 115.01 For both boys and girls the lowest weight noted was in the group 65 to 69 pounds; the heaviest boy was over 205 pounds, the heaviest girl over 220 pounds. The distribution of weights, unlike the distribution of heights, is rather skew. The average weight in each case is greater than the median. The average weight for boys for the two years under discus- sion is 105.71 pounds; the median, 104.57 pounds. The aver- age for girls is 105.73, and the median 104.27 pounds. *The weights of the clothes of the children in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum are as follows: For boys at age fourteen, 6 pounds; at age fifteen, 6.75 pounds; for girls, at age fourteen, 4 pounds; and at age fifteen, 4.50 pounds. 10 Although the average weights of the boys and girls for the two-year period are nearly identical, being respectively 105.71 and 105.73 pounds, the boys show a greater amount of variation in weight than the girls. The standard deviation for the boys is 17.25 pounds, and for the girls 16.00 pounds. Moreover, the interquartile range that is, the difference between the third and first quartiles is 23.72 pounds for the boys, and only 19.83 pounds for the girls. Since one-half of the children are included within these limits, it is clear, as was the case with the heights, that the boys show a greater variability than the girls. GRAPH C Number of Boys and Girls, Ages 14 to 16, for Each Five Pounds of Weight ; Also at Average, Median and Quartile Weights 10- 115- 120- 125- 130- 135- 140- 145- 160- 155- 160- 165- 170- jhts in Five Pound Groups These facts are portrayed in Graph C. The girls cluster more closely about the average than the boys. It is interesting to note that the position of the first quartile point for boys is 93.31 pounds, which is considerably below the corresponding point for the girls, namely, 95.18 pounds. On the other hand, the third quartile point for boys is 117.03, as against 115.01 for girls. These differences are even more marked when we observe the relation of weights of boys to those of girls during the two individual years. This will incidentally show the amount of gain in weight of boys and girls during the year. 11 Table 6 gives average weights for each of the eight quarter- year periods and for each sex. TABLE 6 Number and Average Weight of Boys and Girls for Ages 14 to 15 and 15 to 16 and for Each Quarter-year AGE- PERIOD AND SEX WHOLE YEAR FIRST QUARTER SECOND QUARTER THIRD QUARTER FOURTHQUARTER No. of Children Average Weight (Pounds) No. of Children Average Weight (Pounds) No. of Chil- dren Average Weight (Pounds) No. of Chil- dren Average Weight (Pounds) No. of Chil- dren Average Weight (Pounds) Age 14-15 Boys Girls 3,405 2,827 103.38 104.54 1,216 1,033 101.52 104.28 786 591 102.55 104.02 724 623 103.97 105.87 679 580 107.05 104.10 Age 15-16 Boys Girls 1,988 1,823 109.69 107.57 698 616 107.44 107.31 565 525 110.36 106.92 446 409 110.87 108.55 279 273 112.08 107.89 Graph D exhibits the average weights for the successive quarter-year periods. GRAPH D Average Weight of Boys and Girls, Ages 14 to 16, at each Quarter-year Period 112 110 ^ 108 J JE 1,0, 104 102 100 Age Ho. of Children BOYS GIRLS 112.08 112 110 108 106 104 102 fotal 5393 *650 110.36-- """"" ^^ ' / / f Off. 55 s' "*"** I U I _ LI I ~~ ^~. ^ot2 > ;7 I \ x / ^ "%T 14-1 4l yrs. (BO,. 1216 (Cirlt 1033 14l-14lyr,. 786 591 141 -14 j- yrs. 724 623 14^ -15 yrs. 679 680 15-15j- yrs. 698 616 15l-15lyrs. 565 525 15 l- 15 i yrs . 440 4f/9 15i -16 yrs. 279 273 12 The weight of the boys increases at a fairly steady rate. Starting with an average of 101.52 pounds in the first quarter, the weights increase regularly until in the last quarter of the 16th year they attain an average of 112.08 pounds. This is a gain of 10.56 pounds during the period. For the girls, on the other hand, the weights exhibit fluctuations from one period to another. There is, for instance, a sudden drop in weight from the third quarter to the following period. This condition has already been noted in the heights of the girls at the same ages. In the two years under consideration, the girls gain 3.61 pounds, or only about one- third as much as the boys gain. The girls in the seventh quarter show the greatest average weight, 108.55 pounds; those in the second quarter show the lowest average weight, 104.02 pounds. The -girls are heavier than the boys in the first three quarters, but the boys surpass them in weight at every subsequent quarter. In order to compare the growth in weight of the New York children with those reported upon by other investigators, it is necessary, as in the case of heights, to give the growth of our children during the period 14| to 15J. On this basis, the New York boys show an increase in weight from 103.38 pounds at 14| to 109.69 at 15j, or a gain of 6.31 pounds. The girls start at 104.54 pounds at 14J, and increase to 107.57 pounds at 15J, gaining 3.03 pounds. Bowditch's data show that the Boston boys gain 12.19 pounds and the girls 7.65 pounds. Boas found in the case of Worcester boys an increase of 15.6 pounds, and in the case of Worcester girls, an increase of 5.6 pounds, dur- ing the same period. Here, too, Boas' figures are more in har- mony with Bowditch's than with ours. Our children show an increase in weight only one-half as large as the children of the other cities, a condition like that shown for heights, and ex- plained in the same way. RELATION OF WEIGHT TO HEIGHT We have so far limited ourselves to a consideration of height and weight without reference to the relations that these two bear to each other. We shall now proceed to consider them in their related aspects, for weights, especially of grow- ing children, are in large measure determined by height. Table 7 gives the average weights of boys and girls for each inch of height for the two-year period 14 to 16.* *A more detailed presentation of the average weights for each half -inch of height at each quarter-year period is given in Table 19 Parts A-B Appendix II. TABLE 7 Number and Average Weights of Boys and Girls, Ages 14 to 16 for Each Inch of Height HEIGHT (Inches) BOYS GIRLS Number Average Weight (Pounds) Number Average Weight (Pounds) Under 54 4 18 71 129 250 384 470 641 650 666 6C5 527 389 268 155 76 90 85.13 83.19 80.49 82.74 85.98 88.06 92.67 98.17 102.68 107.20 111.27 116.67 120.11 124.74 131.28 132.99 139.15 7 11 17 76 152 357 542 822 782 694 512 321 180 107 47 14 9 98.50 84.95 91.41 89.51 91.37 96.32 98.32 102.61 106.14 108.23 111.65 115.28 118.04 122.86 132.89 128.43 136.06 54.. 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 and over Total 5,393 105.71 4,650 105.73 GRAPH E Average Weight of Boys and Girls, Ages 14 to 16, for Each Inch of Height 132 128 124 120 116 *112 1 C 108 01 104 100 96 92 88 84 JOYS SIRLS ,3 '\ 132.00 132 128 124 120 116 112 108 104 100 96 92 88 84 80 I 13 E V, 124 J / / / > " aa 11 *''" 04 .aa ro ..v; x' .27 10 r' X' 20 10 / X- 68 < P .32 X^ X /' 7 , / / 67 ' 7" >,- : *? / 7 94. fS J 3 J X " 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 Heights in Inches 14 Graph E shows clearly the essential facts in this relation. Two points stand out: 1. Weight increases with height. The only exception is at the extremes of height in our series, where the number of cases is entirely too small to give a correct picture of the interre- lation. Beginning with 55 inches among the boys and 56 inches among the girls, and continuing upward for the boys without exception, and for the girls to height 67 inches, the weights increase steadily with every successive inch of height. The actual increase in weight for every inch of height varies somewhat for the several heights, and also for the two sexes. In Table 8 (page 16) we give figures which present the relation of weight to height, smoothed so as to eliminate some of the fortuitous variations that make the lines in the graph rather irregular. 2. The girls are heavier than boys for any given height up to about 63 inches. Beyond this height, the boys outweigh the girls. The sole exception is the extreme upper limit of height, where the fewness of cases again mars the reliability of our data. This phenomenon is consistent with, although somewhat different from, the findings of other authors. Bow- ditch, for example, points out that girls are heavier than boys up to 58 inches. Above that point the reverse is true. He finds that the height of 58 inches is attained on the average in the 14th year. The fact that our figures cover the age- period of 14 to 16 only may in part explain the difference in the values of the crossing point in our investigation. The above relations, which cover the two years combined, are, with but slight exceptions, true for each of the individual years. In the first year, namely, 14 to 15, the point where the boys overtake the girls is about 62.6 inches. In the next year it is approximately 63.4 inches. As might be expected from the smaller number of cases in each individual year, the fluctuations in the weights for the successive inches of height are somewhat more marked than in the two-year period. It has therefore seemed desirable, in order to correct for the fluctuations resulting from the paucity of data, to "smooth" the series of weights. These figures are given in Table 8: 15 TABLE 8 Number of Boys and Girls, and Actual and Smoothed Weights for Each Inch of Height, for the Years 14 to 15 and 15 to 16 HEIGHT (Inches) BOYS GIRLS AGE 14 TO 15 AGE 15 TO 16 AGE 14 TO 15 AGE 15 TO 16 1 If Smoothed Weight a l! f-i Smoothed Weight jj |l Smoothed Weight 11 If I Under 54. 54 55 2 13 59 96 190 283 349 440 434 400 355 307 200 137 78 34 28 84.00 82.27 80.87 83.27 85.56 88.03 91.92 97.47 102.37 107.03 110.80 116.58 119.67 124.09 129.95 135.01 137.86 79.74 80.80 82.74 85.46 88.83 92.73 97.06 101.68 106.48 111.35 116.17 120.81 125.17 129.12 132.55 2 5 12 33 60 101 121 201 216 266 250 220 189 131 77 42 62 86.25 85.60 78.62 81.23 87.28 88.14 94.85 99.72 103.28 107.45 111.92 116.81 120.58 125.41 132.64 131.35 139.73 77.05 79.75 82.89 86.40 90.24 94.33 98.64 103.09 107.63 112.21 116.77 121.25 125.60 129.75 133.66 4 8 10 47 102 247 356 513 474 409 296 167 102 56 23 6 7 78.63 81.94 90.35 89.47 90.04 95.25 97.49 102.07 105.80 107.57 110.67 114.76 117.12 122.31 132.65 129.33 144.29 83.28 86.26 89.23 92.21 95.20 98.25 101.38 104.60 107.94 111.43 115.08 118.92 122.97 127.24 131.78 3 3 7 29 50 110 186 309 308 285 216 154 79 51 24 8 2 125.00 91.0Q. 92.86 89.57. 94.07 98.73 99.87 103.17 107.02 109.18 112.99 115.09 119.22 123.47 133.13 127.75 107.25 95.12 95.89 97.53 99.88 102.79 106.08 109.61 113.22 116.75 120.05 122.96 125.30 126.93 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 and over Total 3,405 103.38 1,988 109.69 2,827 104.54 1,823 107.57 The "smoothed" values in this table will serve health officers and others as a more satisfactory standard than the actual averages, since the former are based on the assumption that the law which operates for the bulk of the material also holds good at the extremes.* An examination of this table shows that with an increase of one inch in height, there is an increase in weight ranging from three to five pounds for each sex and for each year. *The "smoothed" series of average weights was obtained in the following manner: We denoted heights in inches by x, and weights in pounds by y. We then assumed that for each value of x, the proper value for y was obtained from the equation y - 80 = a + b (x - 61) + c (x - 61) 2 + d (x - 61) 3 for certain values of the coefficients. The latter were evaluated by the method of "least squares." On this basis, we obtained the equations y - 80 = 21.68 + 4.73 (x - 61) + .09 (x - 61) 2 - .02 (x - 61) 3 y - 80 = 23.09 + 4.51 (x - 61) + .05 (* - 61) 2 - .01 (x - 61) 3 y - 80 = 24.60 + 3.28 (x - 61) + .06 (x - 61) 2 + .004(* - 61) 3 y - 80 = 26.08 + 3.44 (x - 61) + .12 (x - 61) 2 - .03 (x - 61) :i giving, respectively, the relations of weight to height for boys 14 to 15 years, boys 15 to 16 years, girls 14 to 15 years, and girls 15 to 16 years. 16 The measure of the dependence of weight on height is given by the coefficient of correlation between the two. The follow- ing table gives the coefficients of correlation of weight with height for the two sexes, for each of the two years: TABLE 9 Coefficients of Correlation of Height and Weight * Boys and Girls, Ages 14 to 15 and 15 to 16 AGE-PERIOD BOYS GIRLS 14 to 15. .776-+- .0046 .499-+- .0095 15 to 16 .759-K0064 .439-1- .0128 These coefficients show that, within narrow limits, particu- lar weights are associated with definite heights, and vice versa. The heights and weights increase and decrease together in close correspondence. This is particularly true for the boys, as is shown by the high correlation obtaining in their case. In regard to the girls the correlation is not so high, but is none the less significant; the coefficient in their case being at least as high as that found by Pearson for the inheritance from parent to child of physical characteristics. The lesser correlation for girls than for boys signifies that for any given height the girls range over a greater series of weights than do the boys. This will be seen more clearly in Table 16 (page 37) which contains the standard deviations from the average weights for each inch of height. This is an interesting phenomenon in view of the fact that, as we have seen, their total range of variation is smaller. It will also be noted from Table 9 that the corre- lations decrease with age in the case of both the boys and the girls. The above coefficients of correlation are uniformly lower than those found by Boas in his study of the Worcester chil- dren. Thus, at the age 14 to 15, his figure is .87 for boys and .74 for girls. In agreement with Boas, on the other hand, is the fact that the coefficient of correlation for boys is greater than that for girls in each year, and also that there is a decrease in the value of the coefficient for each sex with an increase in * These values are based on figures presented in detail in Table 20, Parts A-D, Appendix II. 17 age. The Boas figure for girls of age 15 to 16 is .57. This is not so much larger than the figure we find, namely, .44. An important factor to be considered in this comparison is the fact that the coefficients submitted by Professor Boas are com- puted uniformly on a small number of cases, and this accounts in some measure for the differences in the two sets of figures. It is also important to bear in mind that the coefficients of the New York children correlate height in shoes with weight in clothes. The heights, and presumably the weights, of the Worcester children were taken without shoes. The effect of this on the two sets of figures does not lend itself readily to calculation. RELATION OF HEIGHT AND WEIGHT TO SCHOOL GRADE Students of the growth of school children have found that there is a very high positive correlation between physical and intellectual development. Attention was directed to this fact especially by Porter in his study of St. Louis children. Confir- mation was later given by Smedley for Chicago children, and by Boas for Worcester children. These authors have pointed out that in the advanced grades pupils are heavier and taller than the pupils of the same age in the lower grades. Con- versely, children who are retarded in grade are also retarded in their physical measurements. Cramp ton, in his valuable monograph on physiological age, presents data for New York school children which clearly confirm these findings; his inter- pretation, however, is somewhat different, since he emphasizes pubescence as the determining factor which accounts not only for the advance in school grade, but also for the physical characteristics, such as height and weight. We are at present not concerned with the complications involved in a consider- ation of pubescence, since our material does not contain any facts with reference to this condition. These findings add in- terest, however, to the results obtained in our investigation. The following table gives the number of boys and girls, and their average height and weight in each of the school grades, at the half-year periods. 18 TABLE 10 Number and Percentage and Average Height and Weight of New York Boys and Girls, Ages 14 to 16 Classified by School Grade and Half-year Age-periods AGE AND GRADE BOYS GIRLS No. of Children Per- centage Average Height (Inches) Average Weight (Pounds) No. of Children Per- centage Average Height (Inches) Average Weight (Pounds) 14 to 16 yrs. All grades . . . 7A.. 5,393 100.0 61.99 105.71 4,650 100.0 61.36 105.79 1,924 629 416 467 1,647 287 5 18 35.7 11.7 7.7 8.7 30.5 5.3 .1 .3 61.92 61.51 62.17 62.16 62.10 62.40 63.95 59.64 105.88 103.56 106.64 107.14 105.58 106.77 112.70 97.22 1,607 586 394 297 1,461 287 1 17 34.6 12.6 8.5 6.4 31.4 6.2 .4 61.10 61.27 61.49 61.77 61.45 61.72 61.00 62.07 105.60 105.22 106.25 106.21 105.68 107.94 103.50 99.48 7B 8A 8B Graduates. . . High School. Vocational. . . Unknown. . . 14 to 14 yrs. All grades . . . 7A. 2,002 100.0 61.29 101.93 1,623 100.0 61.15 104.25 731 274 170 151 593 76 7 36.5 13.7 8.5 7.5 29.6 3.8 .3 61.33 61.08 61.59 61.18 61.34 61.10 58.33 102.22 102.39 103.32 101.16 101.41 100.93 91.07 615 267 159 94 405 80 3 37.9 16.5 9.8 5.8 25.0 4.9 .2 60.82 61.16 61.24 61.56 61.47 61.33 62.83 103.80 103.99 104.88 104.29 104.46 106.36 101.17 7B.. 8A 8B Graduates. . . High School.. Vocational. . . Unknown. . . 14 to 15 yrs. All grades . . . 7A.. 1,403 100.0 61.92 105.46 1,203 100.0 61.25 105.03 515 159 101 126 412 86 4 36.7 11.3 7.2 9.0 29.4 6.1 .3 62.02 61.34 61.90 62.05 61.94 62.12 62.31 106.63 102.61 105.57 107.17 104.60 105.19 106.38 435 141 99 76 390 59 3 36.2 11.7 8.2 6.3 32.4 4.9 .2 61.02 61.36 61.59 61.79 61.27 61.33 60.92 105.54 104.06 107.30 103.55- 104.41 105.86 103.83 7B. 8A. 8B Graduates. . . High School. Vocational . . Unknown. . . 15 to 15* yrs. All grades . . . 7A... 7B 8A 1,263 100.0 62.58 108.75 1,141 100.0 61.41 107.13 445 138 102 120 373 76 2 7 35.2 10.9 8.1 9.5 29.5 6.0 .2 .6 62.38 62.10 62.96 62.98 62.68 63.12 67.00 59.43 108.56 104.72 110.24 112.64 108.54 110.74 118.50 98.15 362 105 88 76 407 96 1 6 31.7 9.2 7.7 6.7 35.7 8.4 .1 .5 61.34 60.97 61.77 61.86 61.23 62.17 61.00 62.54 107.20 105.93 107.15 107. 68. 106.51 110.69- 103.50 102.83 8B Graduates. . . High School. Vocational . . Unknown 15i to 16 yrs. All grades . . . 7A. ., 725 100.0 63.03 111.33 683 100.0 61.98 108.58 233 58 43 70 269 49 3 32.1 8.0 5.9 9.7 37.1 6.8 .4 62.71 62.61 63.27 63.09 63.23 63.80 61.92 110.56 108.96 113.73 110.53 112.17 112.46 108.83 195 73 48 51 259 52 5 28.6 10.7 7.0 7.5 37.9 7.6 .7 61.71 61.92 61.61 61.98 62.05 61.92 61.50 108.44 110.93 107.01 111.50 108.18 107.67 86.75 7B . 8A. 8B Graduates. . . High School. Vocational. . . Unknown. . . . 19 With reference to height, it is seen from Table 10 that the boys in grade 7A are invariably taller than those in the next higher grade. This is true in each one of the age-periods. This condition is directly opposed to the findings of the other investigators. On the other hand, boys show increasing heights from grade 7B through 8B for the two age-periods 14J to 15, and 15 to 15J. The graduates are taller than the 7 A boys in every half-year except the second. Similarly, with the excep- tion of the first half-year, the high school boys are taller than the 7A boys. When we consider the two-year period as a whole, the high school boys are markedly taller than the boys in 7A. The girls present a lesser departure than the boys, from what we should expect on the basis of other investigations. In the first and second half-years there is a definite increase in height from grade 7 A to 8B. In the third half-year this con- dition is limited to grades 7B, 8A and 8B. Graduates are taller than the 7A's in the first, second and fourth half-years. The high school girls are taller than the 7A's in every half- year. For the two years combined, girls show a steady in- crease in height from grade 7 A to grade 8B. The graduates and high school girls are shorter than the 8B girls, but mark- edly taller than those in grade 7A. The relations of weight to school grade are slightly differ- ent. For the boys the weights increase in the second and third half-years for grades 7B, 8 A and 8B. In the first half-year the weights of boys increase from grade 7A to 8A, while the weights of 8B, graduate, and high school children fall below those for grade 7A. In the second half-year, the 7A boys are heavier than those in all the other grades, except 8B. The graduates and high school boys are lighter than the boys in 7 A in the first and second half-years. In the third half-year the 7A boys are slightly heavier than the graduates, but lighter than the high school boys. In the fourth half-year both the graduates and the high school boys outweigh those in 7A. The girls in the first half-year show an increase in weight for grades 7A, 7B and 8A. Graduates are heavier than 7A children, and the high school girls even more so. In the sec- ond half-year the weights fluctuate from grade to grade, the 7A children being heavier than the others, except for grade 8A and high school girls. In the third half-year the weight in- creases for grades 7B, 8A and 8B. Here the 7 A children are 20 heavier than the graduates, but lighter than the high school students. In the fourth half-year, the weights fluctuate again, the graduates and high school children weighing less than those of 7A. For the two-year period as a whole, high school girls are considerably heavier than the girls in any of the lower grades. While our results agree in the main with those of previous observers there are nevertheless striking exceptions which would suggest extreme caution in inferring a positive correlation between height and weight and school grade in children re- ceiving employment certificates. The direct relations are neither as marked nor as constant as found by other observers. It would, therefore, seem that the children in our investigation have certain special characteristics which mark them as a selected group, rather than as a fair sample of New York boys and girls in the age-period 14 to 16. It should be re- membered that the boys and -girls under discussion do not represent school children in general, but only those who were on the point of leaving school to go to work. The various figures appear to show that children of better physique go to work at the earliest opportunity. This will explain the anomaly that our children of 7A are so frequently taller and heavier than those in the next higher grades. The more delicate children are apparently allowed to continue their schooling for longer periods before being sent to work. This fact is responsible for the variations from the findings of other observers. NATIONALITY Thus far, our principal concern has been with the children as a group. Our data, however, permit us to inquire also to some extent into the differences in the physical development of our boys and girls which may be attributed to their several nationalities. This is especially interesting in view of the many racial groups composing the population of New York City, and the important and perplexing questions that con- stantly arise in the adjustment of these races to American conditions. It has not been possible in this study to classify the material rigidly on the basis of nationality or race stock. Instead, the racial terminology, which we have used as a matter of con- 21 venience, actually combines the mother-tongue and nativity classification. Our first group includes the native-born of native parentage. Contrasted with this first group are the native and foreign born of foreign parentage. This second group has been further subdivided into-* a number of race stocks as far as was possible. Under the classification "Jews" are included all native and foreign bora children of foreign parentage whose mother-tongue was given as Yiddish. In like manner, "Italians" includes those whose fathers were born in Italy and whose mother-tongue was Italian. The desig- nation "English, Scotch and Irish" covers children whose fathers were born in the British Isles and whose mother-tongue was given as either English or Scotch. "Germans" includes those whose fathers were born in Germany or Austria and whose mother-tongue was given as German. "Slavs" are those whose mother-tongue is given as Russian, Polish or Slavic. The last group, "Other Nationalities", includes all the residual cases. The following table indicates the distribution of the boys and girls by nationality: TABLE 11 Number and Percentage of Boys and Girls, Classified by Nationality or Race Stock NATIONALITY OR RACE STOCK BOTH SEXES BOYS GIRLS Number Percent, of Total Number Percent, of Total Number Per cent, of Total All nationalities or race stocks Native-born of native parentage. . . Jews 10,043 100.0 5,393 100.0 4,650 100.0 1,616 3,671 1,842 1,099 954 282 579 16.1 36.6 18.3 10.9 9.5 2.8 5.8 927 1,938 877 670 510 146 325 17.2 35.9 16.3 12.4 9.5 2.7 6.0 689 1,733 965 429 444 136 254 14.8 37.3 20.8 9.2 9.5 2.9 5.5 Italians English, Scotch and Irish Germans . Slavs Other nationalities The Jews compose the largest group with 36.6% of the total for both sexes. Since this race group constitutes at best only 20% of the population of New York City, it is evident that this race contributes not far from twice its quota to the boys 22 and girls who go to work at the earliest ages. Their nearest competitors are the Italians, but they are only half as numerous, forming 18.3% of the total. The native-born of native parentage form the third group with 16.1% of the total. They are followed by the British, the Germans and the Slavs in the order named. The sex distribution, although brought out in the foregoing table, is indicated more clearly below. Table 12 indicates the percentage of each sex among the children of the various nationalities TABLE 12 Percentage of Boys and Girls in Each Nationality or Race Stock NATIONALITY OR RACE STOCK BOYS Per cent. GIRLS Per cent. All nationalities or race stocks 53 7 46 3 Native-born of native parentage 57 4 42 6 Jews 52 8 47 2 Italians . 47 6 52 4 English, Scotch and Irish. 61 39 Germans . ... 53 5 46 5 Slavs. . 51 8 48 2 Other nationalities 56 1 43.9 The English, Scotch and Irish evidently send the highest proportion of boys to work; they show 61.0% of boys, and only 39.0% of girls. Next come the native-born of native parentage, of whom 57.4% are boys. Germans, Jews and Slavs then fol- low each other in succession. In no case does the proportion of boys vary greatly from the average, which is 53.7%. It is only among Italians that we find the relationship reversed, so that the girls are in the majority, constituting 52.4% of the total number of applicants. Table 13 indicates the average height and weight by na- tionality, and by half-year age- periods: 23 TABLE 13 Number and Average Height and Weight of New York Boys and Girls, Ages 14 to 16 Classified by Nationality or Race Stock and by Half-year Age-periods NATIONALITY OR RACE BOYS GIRLS STOCK AND HALF-YEAR AGE-PERIOD No. of Chil- dren Average Height in Inches Average Weight in Pounds No. of Chil- dren Average Height in Inches Average Weight in Pounds ALL NATIONALITIES OR RACE STOCKS: Age: 14 to 14f yrs 2,002 61.29 101.93 1,624 61 15 104 19 14 to 15 yrs 1,403 61.92 105.46 1,203 61.25 105 03 15 to 15| yrs. 1263 62 58 108 75 1 141 61 41 107 13 15| to 16 yrs. 725 63 03 111 33 682 61 89 108 29 Total 14 to 16 yrs. . 5,393 61.99 105.71 4,650 61.35 105.73 NATIVE-BORN OF NATIVE PARENTAGE: Age: 14 to 14| yrs. 332 61 42 100 79 223 62 13 104 36 14^ to 15 yrs 236 61.94 103.87 170 62.56 106.92 15 to IS^yrs 235 63.14 109.76 172 62.38 108.38 15| to 16 yrs 124 63.79 114.00 124 62.57 109.15 Total 14 to 16 yrs. . 927 62.31 105.61 689 62.38 106.86 NATIVE-BORN OP FOREIGN PAR- ENTAGE AND FOREIGN-BORN: JEWS: Age* 14 to 14^ yrs. 686 61 35 104.04 525 60.87 105 05 14|tol5 yrs... 526 61 85 106 28 461 60.86 105.57 15 to 15^ yrs 461 62 31 108 84 464 60.86 107 44 15 to 16 yrs 265 62 87 112.28 283 61.28 108.21 Total 14 to 16 yrs.. 1,938 61.92 106.92 1,733 60.93 106.34 ITALIANS: Age: 14 to 14^ yrs. 340 60 50 100 28 427 60.15 103.20 14| to 15 yrs. 222 61 52 107.26 258 60.33 103.21 15 to 15 yrs 208 61 59 106.95 189 60.32 104.03 15| to 16 yrs 107 61.85 108.34 91 60.90 106.35 Total 14 to 16 yrs. . 877 61.18 104.61 965 60.30 103.66 24 TABLE 13 (Continued) Number and Average Height and Weight of New York Boys and Girls, Ages 14 to 16 Classified by Nationality or Race Stock and by Half-year Age-periods NATIONALITY OR RACE BOYS GIRLS STOCK AND HALF-YEAR AGE-PERIOD No. of Chil- dren Average Height in Inches Average Weight in Pounds No. of Chil- dren Average Height in Inches Average , Weight in Pounds NATIVE-BORN OP FOREIGN PARENTAGE AND FOREIGN-BORN: (Continued.) ENGLISH,SCOTCHandIRISH: Age- 14 to 14! yrs 256 61 20 98 83 124 61 67 100 95 14! to 15 yrs 158 62 15 102 83 101 62 04 103 67 15 to 15! yrs 151 62 88 105 78 128 62 35 106 27 15! to 16 yrs. 105 62 94 105 85 76 63 06 107 55 Total 14 to 16 yrs. . 670 62.07 102.44 429 62.21 104.35 GERMANS: Age' 14 to 14! yrs 199 61 71 101 96 170 62 35 106 86 14! to 15 yrs 15 to 15! yrs 136 108 62.26 63 50 105.58 112 71 125 95 61.90 62 63 106.98 109 97 15| to 16 yrs 67 63 66 112 77 54 63 19 112 47 Total 14 to 16 yrs. . 510 62.49 106.62 444 62.39 108.24 RUSSIANS, POLES and BOHEMIANS: Age: 14 to 14! yrs 14| to 15 yrs 61 40 61.98 62 10 104.81 104 45 71 28 61.78 61 46 101.40 101 66 15 to 15| yrs 27 63 87 113 30 25 62 44 110 67 15! to 16 yrs. 18 64 18 119 81 12 62 15 103 75 Total 14 to 16 yrs. . 146 62.63 108.13 136 61.87 103.37 OTHER NATIONALITIES: Age: 14 to 14! vrs 128 61.89 102.71 84 61 61 105 14 14! to 15 yrs 85 62.33 105.30 60 61.85 103.13 15 to 15! yrs. 73 62 77 108 67 68 61 88 106 93 15! to 16 yrs 39 63.65 113.04 42 62.30 107.69 Total 14 to 16 yrs. . 325 62.42 105.97 254 61.85 105.57 25 Graph F shows the comparative heights of boys of various nationalities at each half-year period. The Russians, Poles and Bohemians are not plotted on the graph, because the small number of children represented by these race stocks mars the validity of any comparison with the others. GRAPH F Average Heights of Boys of Various Nationalities at Each Half-year Period, Ages 14 to 16 I" X TIES OF NATIVE ALL NATIONA NATIVE BORN JEWS GERMANS TALIANS ENGLISH, SCOTCH, & IRISH Age 14-141 yrs. 141- -16 yrs. 15-151 yrs. 151. -16 yrs. The German boys are tallest, with an average stature of 62.49 inches for the two years combined. Next come the Amer- ican boys, with an average of 62.31, and. the English, Scotch and Irish, with an average of 62.07. These three groups are taller than the average for all nationalities, which is 61.99. The Jewish boys are close to the average, with a stature of 61.92 inches, while the Italians, on the average, attain only 61.18 inches. If we consider the amount ol growth, however, between age 14| and age 15 \ that is, the average height during the second year minus the average height during the first the sequence is only slightly different. Americans stand at the head, with an average gain of 1.72 inches. Next come Ger- mans, with 1.63 inches of growth, and English, Scotch and Irish with 1.34 inches. The average for all nationalities is 1.19 inches, and below this stand Jews with .94 inch, and Ital- ians with .78 inch. 26 Graph G illustrates the corresponding data for girls. The German girls average 62.39 inches in height; the average for American girls is only .01 inch less. The de- crease in the stature of German girls, from 62.35 inches in the first half-year to 61.90 inches in the second half-year, is per- haps due to a selective process, the taller girls being the more likely to be sent to work at the earlier ages. The English, Scotch and Irish girls average 62.21 inches. The average for all nationalities is 61.35 inches. As with the boys, so with the girls also, Germans, Americans and English are above the average, while Jews and Italians tend to fall below ; the average statures of the last two races being respectively 60.93 and 60.30 inches. As regards the gain in height between ages 14J and 15 J, the order of the nationalities presents a somewhat different aspect. British girls increase by .77 inch, and Germans by .67 inch. Below the general average of .40 inch, however, are Italians (.29 inch), Jews (.16 inch), and native American girls of native parentage, who gain only .14 inch. GRAPH G Average Heights of Girls of Various Nationalities at Each Half-year Period, Ages 14 to 16 -16 yrs. 27 GRAPH H Average Weights of Boys of Various Nationalities at Each Half-year Period, Ages 14 to 16 Age 14-14^ yrs 151 -16 yrs. Graph H shows the comparative weights of the boys of different nationalities. The average weight for all nationalities is 105.71 pounds, The Jewish and the German boys are somewhat above the average for all nationalities, their weights for the two years being 106.92 and 106.62 pounds respectively. The American boys, i. e., native-born of native parentage, average 105.61 pounds for the two years. The Italians boys are, for the most part, below the average with a weight of 104.61 pounds for the two years. English, Scotch and Irish boys are consistently lighter in weight than those of other nationalities, their average weight for the two years being only 102.44 pounds. The average gain in weight for all nationalities is 6.31 pounds from the first year to the second. German and Amer- ican boys stand at the head, gaining 9.30 and 9.15 pounds, respectively. Below the average increase are the British (5.45 pounds), Jews (5.09 pounds) and Italians (4.38 pounds). 28 Graph I illustrates the corresponding data for girls. German girls average 108.24 pounds, outweighing those of other nationalities. American girls weigh 106.86 pounds. Jewish girls follow closely with an average weight of 106.34 pounds. All of these are above the average for all nation- alities, which is 105.73 pounds. English, Scotch and Irish girls average 104.35 pounds. After them come Italian girls with 103.66 pounds, and Slavs with 103.37 pounds. The British girls show the greatest gain in weight, 4.58 pounds, from age 14J to age 15 J. Germans gain 3.96 pounds, and Americans 3.23 pounds. The average for all nationalities is 3.02 pounds. Below the average are Jews (2.44 pounds) and Italians (1.58 pounds). In view of the preponderant part played by Jews and Ital- ians in the constitution of our material, it has been of special interest to enter into an examination of these groups in greater detail. Table 14 (page 30) indicates the average height and weight of Jewish and Italian boys and girls by nativity and by half-year age-periods GRAPH I Average Weights of Girls of Various Nationalities at Each Half-year Period, Ages 14 to 16 TABLE 14 Number and Average Height and Weight of Jewish and Italian Boys and Girls, Ages 14 to 16 Classified by Native and Foreign Birth, and by Half-year Age-periods "MATTONAT TTY OT? "RAPF ^TOPK BOYS GIRLS AND HALF-YEAR AGE-PERIODS No of Chil- Average Height Average Weight No. of Chil- Average Height Average Weight d-en in Inches in Pounds dren in Inches in Pounds JEWS: NATIVE-BORN Age* 14 to 14! yrs. 422 61 37 103 80 293 60 97 104 20 14! to 15 yrs 270 62.08 107.36 251 61.03 106.17 15 to 15! yrs 208 62.50 109.18 241 61.20 108.77 15! to 16 yrs 121 63.40 115.05 140 61.79 109.85 Total 14 to 16 yrs. . 1,021 62.03 107.17 925 61.17 106.78 FOREIGN-BORN Age: 14 to 14! yrs 264 61.32 104.42 232 60.74 106.12 14| to 15 vrs 256 61.60 105.14 210 60.65 104.85 15 to 15! yrs 253 62.16 108.55 223 60.49 106.00 15! to 16 yrs 144 62.42 109.96 143 60.78 106.61 Total 14 to 16 yrs. . 917 61.80 106.63 808 60.65 105.84 ITALIANS: NATIVE-BORN Age: 14 to 14! yrs 221 60.60 101.51 306 60.17 103.72 14! to 15 yrs. 144 61 55 108 21 179 60 29 102 88 15 to 15! yrs. 126 61 45 106 95 119 60 29 104 53 15! to 16 yrs 56 61.57 107.67 54 60.87 108.07 Total 14 to 16 yrs. . 547 61.14 105.16 658 60.28 103.99 FOREIGN-BORN Age: 14 to 14! yrs 119 60.33 97.99 121 60.09 101.92 14| to 15 yrs 78 61.46 105.51 79 60.41 103.98 15 to 15! yrs 82 61.81 106.96 70 60.38 103.17 15! to 16 yrs 51 62.15 109.07 37 60.94 103.84 Total 14 to 16 yrs. . 330 61.25 103.71 307 60.34 102.97 30 In practically every case the native Jewish children show improvement over the foreign-born Jewish children, both in stature and in weight. This is seen more clearly from Graphs J and K. The native Jewish boys, starting with an advantage in their favor of only .05 inch in height in the first half-year, are .48 inch taller in the second, .34 inch in the third, and .98 inch in the fourth, with an average of .23 inch for the two years. The American-born Jewish girls show an even greater superiority in stature over the foreign-born, the differences in their favor amounting to .23, .38, .71 and 1.01 inches, respec- tively, in the four half-years, with an average of .52 inch for the two years. GRAPH J Average Heights of Native and Foreign Born Jewish and Italian Boys and Girls, at Each Half-year Period, Ages 14 to 16 NATIVE-BORN JEWS FOREIGN-BORN JEWS NATIVE-BORN ITALIANS FOREIGN-BORN ITALIANS GRAPH K Average Weights of Native and Foreign Born Jewish and Italian Boys and Girls, at Each Half-year Period, Ages 14 to 16 DATIVE-BORN JEWS FOREIGN-BORN JEWS NATIVE-BORN ITALIANS RN I Age 14-14 -j yrs 15i 16-yrs. In weight there are also marked differences, as is seen in Graph K. In the first half-year the American-born Jewish boys are lighter than the foreign-born by an average of .62 pound. They overtake them, however, in the succeeding period, weigh- ing 2.22, .63 and 5.09 pounds more in the second, third and fourth half-years respectively. For the two-year period as a whole, native-born Jewish boys are .54 pound heavier than the foreign-born. The native-born Jewish girls are 1.92 pounds lighter in the first half-year, but heavier in the three succeeding half- years by 1.32 pounds, 2.77 pounds and 3.24 pounds, respec- tively. For the two years taken as a whole, the native-born Jewish girls are .94 pound heavier than the foreign-born girls of this race stock. Among Italians, the native boys are .27 inch taller in the first half-year, but only .09 inch taller in the second. In the 32 third half-year the relationship is reversed, and the foreign- born actually exceed the natives in stature by a difference of .36 inch. In the fourth half-year the superiority of the native- born is regained, the difference in their favor being .42 inch. For the two years as a whole, native-born Italian boys are . 1 1 inch^shorter than the foreign-born. Among Italian girls, the native-born are taller only in the first half-year, by the narrow margin of .08 inch. During the remaining three age-periods the foreign-born girls have the advantage, with differences of .12, .09 and .07 inch, respectively. For the two years as a whole, native-born Italian girls are .06 inch shorter than the foreign-born. The phenomena of weight among native and foreign born Italian children are quite different, however, from those of height. Among boys, natives show an excess of weight during the first two half-years with differences of 3.52 and 2.70 pounds. During the third and fourth half-years, on the other hand, the foreign-born are heavier, first by only .01 pound, then by 1.40 pounds. For the two years as a whole, native-born Italian boys are 1.45 pounds heavier than the foreign-born. Among Italian girls, on the other hand, the foreign-born are heavier only in the second age group, with a difference of 1.10 pounds. In the first, third and fourth half-years the native Italian girls have the advantage, with 1.80, 1.36 and 4.23 pounds, respectively. For the two years as a whole, native-born Italian girls are 1.02 pounds heavier than the foreign-born. Professor Boas in his volume " Changes in Bodily Form of Descendants of Immigrants" gives similar data on the heights and weights of native and foreign born Jewish and Italian children, and it is of interest to compare our results with the figures in his investigation. To make the two sets of figures comparable, we have reduced ours from a half yearly to a yearly- basis, and have grouped together the Boas figures for Sicil- ians and Neapolitans, which are given separately in his tables, to obtain the average for the Italians, The results are given in Table 15 : 33 TABLE 15 Differences in Height and Weight of Jewish and Italian Native and Foreign Born Boys and Girls, Ages 14 to 15, and 15 to 16 Frankel and Dublin (1916), and Boas (1911) Figures NATIONALITY OR RACE STOCK AGE AND SEX SUPERIORITY* OF NATIVE OVER FOREIGN BORN In Height (Inches) In Weight (Pounds) F.&D. Boas F.&D. .41 2.28 .41 2.92 3.19 -.60 .67 2.24 Boas 1.98 .00 .88 -2.20 JEWISH BOYS: 14 to 15 yrs .19 .57 .30 .82 .19 .45 -.01 -.10 .75 .23 .39 .47 -.28 .55 .59 -.23* 15 to 16 yrs. JEWISH GIRLS: 14 to 15 yrs. 15 to 16 yrs. ITALIAN BOYS: 14 to 15 yrs. 15 to 16 yrs. ITALIAN GIRLS: 14 to 15 yrs. 15 to 16 yrs. *A minus sign ( ) denotes inferiority. In general, our figures show the same tendency as those of Professor Boas, pointing to a superior development of the native- born Jewish children as compared with the foreign-born of this race stock, and to a relatively inferior development of native- born Italian children as compared with their foreign-born brethren. But, as is seen from the table, the extent of the differences between the native and foreign born children of these two nationalities varies in the two sets of data. Professor Boas interprets these results as follows: "Among the east European Hebrews, the American environment, even in the congested parts of the city, has brought about a general more favorable development of the body, which is expressed in the increased height of body (stature) and weight of the children. The Italian children, on the other hand, show no such favorable influence of American environment, but rather a small loss in 34 vigor as compared to the average condition of the immigrant children. It therefore appears that the south Italian race suffers under the influence of American city life, while the east European Hebrew develops under these conditions better than he does in his native country."* This interpretation is clearly corroborated by our figures. Comparing the figures of the native-born Jewish and Italian children with those of native-born of native parentage as given in Table 13 (page 24), we find that, although the native-born Jewish boys are taller than the foreign-born, they are nevertheless shorter than the native-born of native parentage by .28 inch for the two years. As regards weight, however, the native Jewish boys are in the lead. Their average weight for the two years is 107.17 pounds, exceeding that of the native-born boys of native parentage by 1.56 pounds. Among girls, the relationship is almost the same. The native Jewish girls are inferior in stature to the American girls by .21 inch, but in weight they are nearly equal to the native girls of native parentage, the difference in favor of the latter being only .08 pound. The native-born Italian boys are 1.17 inches shorter and .45 pound lighter than the native boys of native parentage. Native-born Italian girls are 2.10 inches shorter and 2.87 pounds lighter than native girls of native parentage. SUGGESTED STANDARDS OF PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT The examining officer, whose duty it is to determine the fitness of children to be subjected to the strain of industrial work, has a large discretionary power. It is important that he should have at his disposal bases for determining in some way, other than by personal impression, the question of whether or not. an applicant conforms tp reasonable standards. How, then, shall we proceed with the establishment of norms to govern the solution of this problem and what shall these norms be? We have observed above that there are differences in the heights and weights of the children of the various nationalities. These differences are, however, too slight to warrant the adoption of special standards for each nationality. We shall, therefore, consider this subject without distinction for the race groups. Such standards as we shall develop will take into ""'Changes in Bodily Form of Descendants of Immigrants", page 62. 35 consideration only the differences in the two sexes and in the two individual years, namely, 14 to 15 and 15 to 16. Shorter age-periods, such as half-years, will not be considered in this connection, in view of the minor changes in height and weight occurring from one period to another. Our first consideration is to arrive at a basis by which normal development may be determined. Clearly, this basis cannot be height alone. As we have shown in Table 3 (page 5) 25% of the boys were under five feet in height; this was equally true for the girls. Indeed, 4.1% of the boys and 2.4% of the girls in this group were under four feet nine inches. These children are surely of short stature by any standard, and one would be tempted, on the score of height alone, to suggest the elimination of these boys and girls as still physically unfit for industrial work during such critical years as 14 to 16. But these boys and girls are often on examination as robust and well- formed as many taller children who apply for work papers. This is seen in Table 8 (page 16). Many are short through in- heritance, although others are retarded in development for their age. Any strength test to which they might be put would in all probability show that many were physically as fit as those of average height for their age. It is clear, then, that we cannot determine normal development from a consideration of height alone, although health officers will often use their discretion to withhold certificates from children at the extremes of low height. In the same way, a consideration 01 weight alone will lead to no constructive results, for, to have any meaning, weight must clearly be taken in relation to height. A weight of 100 pounds, while considerable, and even above the average for a child 60 inches in height, would be very low for a boy 67 inches tall. The only proper basis, therefore, is the relation of weight to height. The health officer's problem is, then, to note the weight of any applicant in relation to his height, and to see to what degree the actual figures correspond to the aver- ages which were ascertained in this study, or to those prevailing in his own locality if such figures are at hand. We shall now consider the average weights found by us for each height, and determine the minimum weights to be allowed for each inch of height for each of the two sexes and for each year of age. The following table gives the essential figures for our discussion: 36 TABLE 16 Number, Average Weights, Standard Deviations and Other Derived Values for Each Inch of Height of New York Boys and Girls, Ages 14 to 15 and 15 to 16 Years BOYS AGE 14 to 15 AGE 15 to 16 Height in Inches No. of Chil- dren Average Weight (A) (Pounds) Standard Deviation () (Pounds) A-! "5? bc-^ 8 ill <_ c t- c a) inches 1| Is Z || If 1| II 3lS || ll a3 * 11 3_c Is _g| ^ 1 jg 2"ii >' s zS <& <& zS <5^ zo <& S50 <& <& lie <^ o 49 49* 1 88.00 50 50* 51 51* 52 1 76.50 52* 80.00 1 96.00 53 53* 54 2 78.50 1 80.00 2 76.25 1 123.00 54* 5 84.60 2 87.00 1 76.00 2 79.75 2 76.25 55 9 80.67 8 79.19 6 76.38 4 86 38 1 77.00 2 75.75 1 80.00 55* 12 80.50 11 83.64 6 80.75 3 79.17 2 80.75 3 78.67 1 79.00 2 79.25 56 8 83.25 11 78.77 12 84.50 11 81.68 7 78.93 4 76.38 2 85.25 2 80.25 56* 21 85.21 10 83.20 12 79.79 11 88.14 7 86.14 4 85.63 6 77.92 1 78.50 57 34 85.88 18 84.67 22 83.16 18 83.14 13 87.50 6 86.17 5 88.40 4 84.13 57* 45 87.39 20 84.23 23 87.43 10 85.90 11 84.11 12 93.08 6 85.75 3 82.33 58 61 87.41 34 85.93 27 87.59 19 85.76 26 87.21 17 90.74 13 86.92 5 93.80 58* 65 89.55 30 87.18 24 89.79 23 90.15 17 86.79 12 86.17 7 86.57 4 94.50 59 78 90.14 49 91.59 33 90.61 26 93.19 18 94.92 15 95.07 12 94.88 g 96.13 59* 68 93.42 42 91.33 31 93.32 22 93.98 32 94.58 14 95.93 15 94.33 7 92.86 60 87 94.96 43 96.00 54 97.98 32 96.97 53 98.77 33 102.24 18 98.25 4 100.64 60* 88 97.92 51 98.68 43 99.71 42 99.17 23 97.22 27 96.41 21 104.37 2 102.17 61 96 101.74 48 98.68 42 103.90 41 102.43 41 101.67 41 106.43 26 102.21 4 99.50 61* 67 102.75 57 101.68 43 103.78 40 105.49 31 104.15 29 102.86 20 102.38 4 104.86 62 86 104.56 54 102.79 40 104.73 57 106.01 53 107.21 52 106.18 29 105.67 5 104.27 62* 50 108.43 41 113.27 39 109.55 33 112.15 43 106.78 30 109.13 22 109.39 2 112.66 63 64 108.44 39 109.40 49 109.67 47 111.57 49 109.04 40 111.36 29 110.88 2 113.80 63* 52 112.66 37 111.72 28 112.77 39 111.82 30 111.27 30 112.25 30 113.93 117.05 64 57 113.74 39 115.95 35 114.54 42 117.82 46 112.64 29 115.03 27 115.61 7 116.21 64* 38 119.29 37 117.88 23 114.11 36 119.65 20 121.70 31 122.32 37 117.84 3 115.15 65 26 119.85 25 118.96 29 117.91 27 119.52 40 118.73 19 127.53 26 119.13 9 118.92 65* 28 120.96 20 118.68 28 118.55 17 124.53 28 120.27 32 121.25 14 123.39 1 116.95 66 21 125.55 17 122.94 23 122.83 21 123.07 27 125.11 18 123.42 22 126.81 Q 123.94 66* 15 128.30 9 120.89 14 125.29 17 123.41 20 125.03 13 123.69 14 127.82 8 128.31 67 12 140.79 12 126.71 13 121.50 11 125.91 15 129.27 18 127.28 7 139.07 5 137.30 67* 9 140.61 3 121.83 10 122.65 8 138.00 7 139.29 9 132.89 9 133.28 7 136.07 68 4 135.13 6 133.50 2 133.75 6 134.42 12 131.04 8 127.44 7 138.93 5 123.70 68* 111.50 7 134.29 3 135.33 5 143.50 4 129.00 3 143.00 3 129.50 69 125.50 2 131.25 2 137.25 4 133.13 10 132.75 4 155.13 9 134.50 6 138.33 65* 135.00 2 138.75 3 136.17 2 123.75 6 144.83 2 128.50 3 136.33 70 1 150.00 2 143.50 1 133.00 2 143.75 70* 115.50 2 148.25 2 145.00 1 137.00 1 149.00 2 141.50 1 159.00 71 171.00 2 142.25 2 128.00 3 144.17 2 134.75 2 154.00 71* 2 140.25 72 1 149.50 j 72* 1 149.00 1 148.50 TOTAL 1.216 101.52 786 102.55 724 103.97 679 107.05 698 107.44 565 110.36 446 110.87 9 112.03 Average Height 61.14 61.52 61.72 62.13 62.44 62.74 62.96 63.15 48 APPENDIX II (Continued). TABLE 19 Part B Number and Average Weights for Each Half -inch of Height of New York Girls, Ages 14 to 16 Years, for Each Quarter-year of Age 14 to 14i yrs 14J to 14* yrs 14* to 14f yrs 14f to 15 yrs. 15 to 15i yrs 15J to 15* yrs 15* to 15f yrs 15f to 16 yrs. Height in "8 8 "3 'o "8 "8 o "o Half- inches |l ii CJ * II Ii II oj '2r |l Is i| |l II If 11 Ii || S fi s zu ^ i z& S.6 ll Ifc gls zo II II <& m l P J3 o 4s 49 49* 50 50* 1 84.00 51 1 87.00 52 52* 1 112.50 53 1 74.50 53* 1 69.00 1 144.00 i 118.50 54 3 83.33 1 96.00 1 93.50 54* 1 77.50 i 80.50 2 82.75 1 82.00 1 90.00 55 i 85.50 1 95.00 1 111.50 2 81.75 55* 3 99.67 2 82.25 3 86.50 1 102.00 2 98.25 i 77.00 56 12 89.38 5 87.80 7 81.64 2 100.50 6 90.25 4 91.75 3 95.17 56* 6 93.17 3 81.50 8 95.00 4 89.38 3 87.33 5 86.10 4 84.63 4 93.13 57 15 91.70 13 89.31 10 91.25 13 89.15 6 93.75 14 94.50 2 94.75 2 102.25 57* 17 88.62 9 90.56 12 91.83 13 88.65 7 87.64 12 96.79 2 94.75 5 91.90 58 48 93.63 27 94.26 27 92.02 20 97.45 22 96.14 8 93.26 9 102.50 5 100.40 58* 49 96.21 27 96.89 28 99.16 21 92.69 26 100.80 21 98.02 14 99.57 5 100.30 59 77 94.11 36 99.39 38 98.50 40 97.28 36 97.42 29 98.14 13 105.54 12 101.25 59* 73 99.56 30 98.68 30 97.00 32 97.13 23 101.37 35 99.86 18 181.00 20 99.70 60 105 99.65 78 102.29 58 101.65 51 100.01 78 103.94 49 100.77 34 102.09 28 103.46 60* 79 104.09 38 99.71 58 105.23 47 104.48 42 104.90 36 99.25 31 103.65 10 117.20 61 97 105.45 46 106.96 45 104.09 63 105.90 74 106.96 43 108.44 42 106.01 25 104.02 61* 80 ing 07 52 105.16 38 105.45 53 104.18 43 105.99 29 108.52 32 108.03 19 108.63 62 73 107 '.45 45 105.49 63 107.53 52 104.10 53 107.47 65 107.65 35 103.89 30 116.12 62* 64 109.79 44 107.57 36 110.33 32 108.94 32 110.86 26 110.90 29 112.74 15 106.93 63 61 110.40 31 110.89 36 111.88 35 108.16 40 111.51 37 112.88 29 114.38 20 109.20 63* 46 111.60 21 106.86 36 113.75 30 110.04 30 115.57 22 114.68 24 113.94 14 110.21 64 31 112.52 27 112.83 22 116.45 14 109.14 31 113.64 20 118.38 19 115.45 23 113.17 64* 25 116.56 13 113.62 14 122.07 21 116.24 16 114.34 15 120.40 21 117.10 10 105.80 65 24 116.93 12 113.08 13 119.65 8 126.44 10 123.60 9 124.44 15 113.60 6 114.67 65* 18 118.03 10 111.55 7 122.43 9 111.28 10 121.80 15 118.88 7 118.07 7 107.25 66 9 123.33 10 115.90 14 120.29 4 135.25 6 121.00 13 124.08 7 130.14 6 116.50 66* 6 117.08 6 120.75 4 145.00 3 116.17 6 123.75 3 123.67 7 120.36 3 130.67 67 4 135.25 3 148.50 5 135.90 6 127.08 9 138.39 4 139.13 4 122.75 67* 3 124.17 1 142.00 1U8.00 3 130.00 1 154.50 3 119.17 68 1 179.00 1 118.00 2 128.75 2 128.25 2 131.50 68* 2 114.25 1 124.00 I 126.50 1 126.00 1 119.00 M 2 139.00 3 147.83 1 170.00 1 104.50 70 3 70* 1 118.50 71 71* 1 110.00 72 72* TOTAL 1,033 104.28 591 104.02 623 105.87 580 104.10 616 107.31 525 106.92 409 108.55 273 107.89 Average Height 61.12 61.21 61.22 61.29 61.43 61.39 61.93 61.83 49 .9 O t^Ot^ OO-*O COt>. ^o^oo^coogoocot^co- CO" l^i *O Oi 2 o;* |5g l-i 1C o CT> - H |5| S^g |S2 S^S -1 - S^g T-H -H i-H C<1 * Sog - (M g 1^2 ^H^H IN 1 * ^^ 0, ^CO^-H o i fe o s2 ~ . - 1 3?" 0,0,^00^^^^ ^ g o 53 i-H rt rH (M CO i-H O T-H -H ^H ^ O CD CO O CO -^ 1 2o^ ^ l S^S^2 Tt< ^" 1 2-2 Tj< 1C O CO CO O O C^COO* '* < ^COOOOCi' "t-^-C^CMOt^-CO t-HCCOOCMO^HOiO^OOCOI>TtiTtii-i , OO OO O CO OO C2 -2 IM r-l i-H CC -g S J 52 ) O * ' CQ "X m HO J? s 10 5 i Q +- 0> M rt g; K g ! II ^ -2 gog gsg 2fi <=> o 1 _ ^ ^