Question

discuss the differences between measurements of growth and direct measurements of maturation. what does each measure? what are some examples of each?

Answer 1

Growth of whole body proceeds a characteristic pattern known as the sigmoid pattern, but the rate of maturation varies between the sexes and among individuals and the information obtained through this is very much helpful for the professionals to detect abnormal or retarded growth in individuals.

If it comes to measurement of growth, we have many methods to measure physical growth and body size, and it will provide us a great deal of information about the course of growth in terms of height, weight, segment length, body breadth and circumference. These are all comes under the measurement of growth, where we can actually see the growth and can measure it accurately.

At the same time when it comes to direct measurement of maturation, any individual will move through their growing years and the extrinsic factors contribute more and more to the variability on the growth pattern. Like we can take the example of appearance of the secondary sex characteristic as direct measurement of maturation by considering the breast, pubic hair and genitalia development at different stages in the life cycle of girls and boys.

Another example to relatively assess the maturation is from the skeletal maturation. When we take the X ray of skeletal maturation with a set of standards, developmentalist can assign individuals a skeletal age. Maturation can be assessed directly or indirectly, but direct measurement would be ideal, but is not possible always. Another example is dental eruption means the appearance of new teeth indicates the maturation status.