ABSTRACT
A cross-sectional morphometric study on 569 school children from the city of San Clemente del Tuyú (Buenos Aires, Argentina) has been performed. The sample was subdivided into 28 subgroups according to the age range (7-13 years old), sex, and occupational status -low or high- of the fathers. Body weight, height, sitting height, and head and arm circumferences were measured. Statistics of analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey test for unequal sample sizes were performed at each stage of age. Both males and females belonging to the lower social status showed a general decrement in growth: shortening in leg length was evident. Since the girls from both occupational status showed -in general terms-hypothesis of "better canalization of the females" has been corroborated by the present work.