Abstract
Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HHANES) was conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics to produce estimates of the health of U.S. Hispanics. HHANES data are used to describe the secondary sexual characteristics of 1,491 Mexican-American adolescents, 728 females and 723 males, ages ten to seventeen. Estimates were made by the status quo method, which utilizes the percentage of each sexual maturation stage plotted against age. To this percentage distribution, a probit transformation was applied. Median transitional ages for female breast development (B): B2 10.91, B3 12.0, B4 13.75, B5 15.00; female pubic hair development (PH): PH2 11.16, PH3 12.25, PH4 14.00, PH5 15.41. Ages for entry to puberty stages for male genitalia development (G): G2 12.25, G3 13.25, G4 14.50, G5 16.08; male pubic hair development: PH2 12.5, PH3 13.25, PH4 14.5, PH5 16.0.
Confidence intervals for both Mexican-American female and male sexual maturation stages are similar to those published for U.S. and British standards. This is the first cross-sectional data for Mexican-American adolescent sexual maturation and probit analysis of a U.S. adolescent population.
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Villarreal, S., Mendoza, F. & Martorell, R. SEXUAL MATURATION IN MEXICAN-AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS: HISPANIC HEALTH AND NUTRITION EXAMINATION SURVEY. Pediatr Res 21 (Suppl 4), 178 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00070
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00070