HEIGHT AND SOCIAL-CLASS IN MALE-ADOLESCENTS FROM DIFFERENT ETHNIC BACKGROUNDS IN ISRAEL

The relationship between height and social class, independent of the e ffect of ethnic background was examined. This is a population-based st udy of 17-year-old Israeli-born Jewish males born between 1966-1969 wh o underwent routine physical examination prior to army recruitment. In ductees descending from 9 ethnic backgrounds - Germany, Hungary, India , Morocco, Poland, Romania, Russia, Yemen and at least 3rd-generation Israeli-born were used for this analysis. Anthropometric data was abst racted from the computerized induction examination; socioeconomic stat us (SES) was assigned according to the residence of each recruit. Stat istical analysis included analysis of variance and chi square test for linear trend. Mean height of the total (reference) group was 173.7 cm , ranging from 172.0 cm in the lowest SES level to 175.1 cm in the hig hest level. The proportion of individuals above the 85th percentile of height of the reference group, increased linearly from 8.7% (lowest S ES) to 18.5% (highest SES) (p < 0.01). The mean height of recruits dif fered considerably among ethnic groups in each SES level and ranged fr om 170.8 cm (Yemenites) to 175.4 cm (Russian and Romanian) in the tota l group. In each ethnic group, height differences between extreme leve ls of SES were observed ranging from 2.3 cm (Morocco) to 4.3 cm (Russi a). We conclude that height among 17-year old Israeli-born males is po sitively associated with SES after controlling for ethnicity.