Height and Weight Standards for School Children in Tahiti

This report established height and weight standards for the population of Tahitian school children. The period of early maturation in girls occurred from 10–13 years with height as the criterion and 9–14 with weight as the criterion. Comparisons of three major Tahitian ethnic subgroups, Tahitian, French, and Chinese, and two established standards, United States Caucasians and Hong Kong Chinese, indicated greatest similarity among the non-Asian groups and greatest disparity with the Hong Kong Chinese. The Caucasians were taller at the upper age levels, but the Tahitians were heavier at those ages, indicating a greater tendency toward overweightness. Generally, highly significant differences were found between the Asian and non-Asian groups, and between the two Asian groups, on both height and weight. Although the weight differences persisted at all ages between the Hong Kong and Tahitian Chinese favoring the latter, the two groups were not found to be significantly different in stature by mid-adolescence. The data suggests environmental factors are more influential in detemining weight than ultimate height.