A revised edition of an established text on human growth and development from an anthropological and evolutionary perspective.

It is generally accepted that the earliest human ancestors grew more like apes than like humans today. If they did so, and we are now different, when, how and why did our modern growth patterns evolve? This book focuses on species within the genus Homo to investigate the evolutionary origins of characteristic human patterns and rates of craniofacial and postcranial growth and development, and to explore unique ontogenetic patterns within each fossil species. Experts examine growth patterns found within available Plio-Pleistocene hominid samples, and analyse variation in ontogenetic patterns and rates of development in recent modern humans in order to provide a comparative context for fossil hominid studies. Presenting studies of some of the newer juvenile fossil specimens and information on Homo antecessor, this book will provide a rich data source with which anthropologists and evolutionary biologists can address the questions posed above.

Offering a study of biological, biomedical and biocultural approaches, this book is suitable for researchers, professors and graduate students across the interdisciplinary area of human development. It is presented in the form of lectures to facilitate student programming.

This completely revised edition provides a synthesis of the forces that shaped the evolution of the human growth pattern, the biocultural factors that direct its expression, the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that regulate individual development, and the biomathematical approaches needed to analyze and interpret human growth. After covering the history, philosophy and biological principles of human development, the book turns to the evolution of the human life cycle. Later chapters explore the physiological, environmental and cultural reasons for population variation in growth, and the genetic and endocrine factors that regulate individual development. Using numerous historical and cultural examples, social-economic-political-economic forces are also discussed. A new chapter introduces controversial concepts of community effects and strategic growth adjustments, and the author then integrates all this information into a truly interactive biocultural model of human development. This remains the primary text for students of human growth in anthropology, psychology, public health and education.

Statistical Analysis of Human Growth and Development is an accessible and practical guide to a wide range of basic and advanced statistical methods that are useful for studying human growth and development. Designed for nonstatisticians and statisticians new to the analysis of growth and development data, the book collects methods scattered throughout the literature and explains how to use them to solve common research problems. It also discusses how well a method addresses a specific scientific question and how to interpret and present the analytic results. Stata is used to implement the analyses, with Stata codes and macros for generating example data sets, a detrended Q-Q plot, and weighted maximum likelihood estimation of binary items available on the book’s CRC Press web page. After reviewing research designs and basic statistical tools, the author discusses the use of existing tools to transform raw data into analyzable variables and back-transform them to raw data. He covers regression analysis of quantitative, binary, and censored data as well as the analysis of repeated measurements and clustered data. He also describes the development of new growth references and developmental indices, the generation of key variables based on longitudinal data, and the processes to verify the validity and reliability of measurement tools. Looking at the larger picture of research practice, the book concludes with coverage of missing values, multiplicity problems, and multivariable regression. Along with two simulated data sets, numerous examples from real experimental and observational studies illustrate the concepts and methods. Although the book focuses on examples of anthropometric measurements and changes in cognitive, social-emotional, locomotor, and other abilities, the ideas are applicable to many other physical and psychosocial phenomena, such as lung function and depressive symptoms.

An interdisciplinary analysis of human growth in past populations, first published in 1999.

In order to gain an understanding of the dynamics of human individual and average growth patterns it is essential that the right methods are selected. There are a variety of methods available to analyse individual growth patterns, to estimate variation in different growth measures in populations and to relate genetic and environmental factors to individual and average growth. This volume provides an overview of modern techniques for the assessment and collection of growth data and methods of analysis for individual and population growth data. The book contains the basic mathematical and statistical tools required to understand the concepts of the methods under discussion and worked examples of analyses, but it is neither a mathematical treatise, nor a recipe book for growth data analysis. Aimed at junior and senior researchers involved in the analysis of human growth data, this book will be an essential reference for anthropologists, auxologists and paediatricians.