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Stature increase among Italian‐Americans: Environmental, genetic, or both?
Author(s) -
Damon Albert
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330230414
Subject(s) - endogamy , demography , heterosis , short stature , significant difference , medicine , biology , pediatrics , population , sociology , horticulture , hybrid
Among 199 Italian‐American men, aged 20–59, over 90% American born of Neapolitan parentage, and working in a single factory near Boston, stature increased progressively from the sixth to the third decade. The difference, 2.1 inches (p < 0.001), is the largest yet reported for adults over so short a period. Most of the increase is environmentally mediated, but the possibility of heterosis is suggested by the greater stature of sons of exogamous matings than of endogamous matings (difference = 0.73 inches, 0.06 > p > 0.05), independently of age.