Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

pt. 1. Growth data and growth studies : characteristics and methological issues. 1. Why study child growth and maturation? / John H. Himes ; 2. The human growth curve : distance, velocity and acceleration / Luciano Molinari and Theo Gasser ; 3. Sampling for growth studies and using growth data to assess, monitor and survey disease in epidemiological settings / Edward A. Frongillo ; 4. Measuring growth / Noël Cameron ; 5. Measuring maturity / Noël Cameron ; 6. Measuring body composition / Babette Zemel and Elizabeth Barden -- pt. 2. Non-parametric and parametric approaches for individual growth. 7. Kernel estimation, shape-invariant modelling and structural analysis / Theo Gasser, Daniel Gervini and Luciano Molinari ; 8. Parametric models for postnatal growth / Roland C. Hauspie and Luciano Molinari ; 9. Parameter estimation in the context of non-linear longitudinal growth models / R. Darrell Bock and Stephen H.C. du Toit -- pt. 3. Methods for population growth. 10. Univariate and bivariate growth references / Edward A. Frongillo ; 11. Latent variables and structural equation models / Gino Verleye, Marie-José Ireton, J. Cesar Carrillo and Roland C. Hauspie ; 12. Multilevel modelling / Adam Baxter-Jones and Robert Mirwald -- pt. 4. Special topics. 13. Methods for the study of the genetics of growth and development / Stefan A. Czerwinski and Bradford Towne ; 14. Prediction / Noël Cameron ; 15. Ordinal longitudinal data analysis / Jeroen K. Vermunt and Jacques A. Hagenaars.

In order to gain an understanding of the dynamics of human individual and average growth patterns it is essential that the right methods are selected. There are a variety of methods available to analyse individual growth patterns, to estimate variation in different growth measures in populations and to relate genetic and environmental factors to individual and average growth. This 2004 volume provides an overview of modern techniques for the assessment and collection of growth data and methods of analysis for individual and population growth data. The book contains the basic mathematical and statistical tools required to understand the concepts of the methods under discussion and worked examples of analyses, but it is neither a mathematical treatise, nor a recipe book for growth data analysis. Aimed at junior and senior researchers involved in the analysis of human growth data, this book will be an essential reference for anthropologists, auxologists and paediatricians.