Family characteristics and offspring growth in various countries. III. Regression of offspring's stature in relation to parent's and family's factors in Japan and Korea.

Abstract

1219 offspring 2-48 years old were examined in 578 Japanese and in 672 Korean families. To obtain age-independent values, we used 100-point T-scores. A multiple regression analysis, shows that the (tall) stature of Japanese offspring dependent on the genetic factor (tall stature of parents) in about 13%, on (large) family and apartment size in 0.4-1.5%, for sons also on (good) education and income of parents in 0.72%, and for daughters on (young) age of parents at child birth. In Korea, the (tall) stature of offspring was significantly related to the genetic factor (tall parents), which explained 1.8% of the variance for sons and 13% for daughters, and also to the (large) family apartment size, which explained 2.6% of the variance for sons and 0.84% for daughters. These results show in a different light the results obtained from the analysis of family types, and they provide evidence for the importance of the analysis of sets of traits in the form of family types, going beyond the importance of other multivariate techniques.