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Impact of War on Growth Patterns in School Children in Croatia
Helga Jovanović
Živka Prebeg
Ivana Stanić
Gorka Vuletić
Sažetak
The objective of this paper is to present the growth patterns of school children in
Osijek – the city which was exposed to severe attacks during the aggression on Croatia.
The mean height and weight of Osijek schoolchildren aged 7 to 18 and the menarcheal
age in girls in academic year 1995/96 were compared to the analogous data collected in
1980/81. The secular changes in height were heterogeneous. In older age groups from
12 in girls and 13 in boys, the mean height in 1995/96 increased markedly, whereas
from 9 to 11 or 12, changes were undulating. In the youngest groups – at the age of 7 in
both genders, and at 8 in boys, negative changes were observed. Markedly smaller height
in this cohort was still pronounced in 1999/2000 when these children reached the age of
11. However, one year later (2000/01), at the age of 12, boys and girls caught up with
their peers in the previous generations. These children during the war were approximately
at the age of 2.5 to 4, a period when growth patterns are highly sensitive to adverse
environmental influences. It might be possible that the emotional stress caused by
a change of environment and separation from home, contributed to the deceleration of
growth rate, i.e. the smaller height in a large part of childhood.
Ključne riječi
child growth; secular changes; impact of war
Hrčak ID:
28177
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.12.2003.
Posjeta: 873 *