Degree of resemblance of the pattern of growth among sibs in families of West Bengal (India).

The Preece-Baines Model 1 curve has been fitted to longitudinal data on growth in height of 105 boys and girls in 70 Bengal families: 60 of these were sibs distributed in 25 families. For a number of growth characteristics, such as age at peak height velocity, the proportion of the total population variance that was due to variation between, as opposed to within, families was estimated by Smith's (1980) method. The proportions for age at take-off of the adolescent spurt, of age at PHV, and of PHV itself were 22%, 26% and 33% (where adult height gives a value of about 40%). The sample is small and these estimates have high standard errors and need confirmation.