Introduction
It was interesting to determine if the height of girls and boys in adolescence differed. Because growth hormone is produced at high levels during pubertal development, adolescent height changes rapidly (Yau & Rapaport, 2022; Cavarzere et al., 2020). Boys, on average, may be taller than girls physiologically because this hormone is most strongly synthesized in boys, especially when combined with testosterone (Woelfle et al., 2024; Al-Ani et al., 2020). The motivation was to determine if the theoretical differences would indeed be observed in life. The hypothesis was formulated based on published evidence: boys are expected to be taller than girls of the same age.
Methods and Materials
The laboratory study was based on an observational quasi-experimental design, meaning no variables were manipulated, and the results described only a slice of time. A short survey was sent to acquaintances of the author of this paper, inviting them to provide information on age, gender, and height. An invitation link was sent to study participants via social media, stating that all data would be anonymized and that participation was voluntary. Results for the three variables across the entire sample were compiled into a single spreadsheet and recoded for statistical analysis. This included performing a t-test of independent samples to determine the statistical significance of differences in height between boys and girls and a correlation test to examine the relationship between age and height.
Results
The sample comprised 49 participants who voluntarily agreed to participate in this survey. The total number of boys in the sample was 44.9% (N = 22), and the total number of girls was 55.1% (N = 27). Only adolescents aged 14 to 16 were included in the sample, with a mean age of 14.8 (SD = 0.7). The sample mean height ranged from 149 to 185 centimeters, with a mean of 165.2 centimeters (SD = 10.0).
The results showed that the mean height of the boys in the sample was 167.8 (SD = 10.3), and the mean height of the girls was 163.1 (SD = 9.5). This primarily indicates that boys are taller than girls on average; however, an independent-samples t-test is needed to confirm this. The test results showed no statistically significant differences between the two groups (t(47) = -1.682, p =.099). Moreover, an analysis revealed that the height and age of individuals in the sample are moderately positively correlated (r =.486, p =.000). This indicates that the older a child is, the taller they tend to be.
Discussion
The study found that the mean height of girls and boys in the sample showed no statistically significant difference, indicating that both boys and girls aged 14 to 16 had indistinguishable heights. This result is unexpected, indicating that girls should generally be shorter due to differences in growth hormone production (Woelfle et al., 2024; Al-Ani et al., 2020). Age was moderately correlated with height, as expected, because older children tend to be taller than younger children, a difference attributable to the peak of growth hormone production at puberty (Cavarzere et al., 2020).
The value of these results suggests the likely presence of additional variables relevant to the relationship between gender and height. These may include factors of sports participation or hereditary predictors. The strengths include the performance of inferential analysis in examining differences and a comparably large sample size. Weaknesses include the limited number of factors studied and the small number of participants in each gender group.
Conclusion
The present study aimed to investigate potential differences in height between pubertal boys and girls aged 14-16. It was shown that there were no differences between the gender groups; both groups had similar heights. There was a moderate positive relationship between age and child height. The results are somewhat contradictory to previously published literature evidence: this may indicate the existence of additional predictors of the relationship between the variables.
References
Al-Ani, R. K., Abed, M. T., Al-Ani, B. B., & Al-Ani, M. M. (2020). The response rate to somatotropin in first year therapy in prepubertal children with growth hormone deficiency in Anbar growth center. International Medical Journal, 27(4), 397-400.
Cavarzere, P., Gaudino, R., Sandri, M., Ramaroli, D. A., Pietrobelli, A., Zaffanello, M., & Antoniazzi, F. (2020). Growth hormone retesting during puberty: A cohort study. European Journal of Endocrinology, 182(6), 559-567.
Woelfle, J., Schnabel, D., & Binder, G. (2024). The treatment of growth disorders in childhood and adolescence. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 121(3), 96-106.
Yau, M., & Rapaport, R. (2022). Growth hormone stimulation testing: To test or not to test? That is one of the questions. Frontiers in Endocrinology, 13, 1-5.