Similarity of Some Anthropological Characteristics of Parents and their Offspring in Different Phases of Ontogenetic Development

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Abstract
Cephalic index, nasal index and hair color was studied in 116 rural families of late maturation. The highest correlation between parents and children was obtained for the nose index, then hair color; head shape is the lowest. The correlation coefficients significantly differ from 0. The highest correlation between a parent and child of a given sex was for mothers and daughters (for cephalic index the highest correlation was between mother and son). The lowest correlation was for fathers and sons (not significant in 2 instances). An investigation of the changes in resemblances of children to parents in the course of the child''s development shows that there are periods of greater and lesser relative resemblance (according to t-scores). Usually the periods of least resemblance coincide with the periods of school spurt and adolescent spurt. Fluctuations in resemblance generally correspond to changes in the absolute magnitude of a given trait in the course of growth. Periods of closest resemblance occur mainly between 8 and 12 yr. of age. This age group is particularly suited to studies in genetics and the establishment of paternity. For mean magnitudes of the cephalic and nose index in parents (presumably heterozygotes), the children displayed the greatest deviations in the 2 directions. Nose and head shapes seems to be polygenic traits. The well-known phenomenon of equalization to mean magnitudes of various traits in the population was established. The greatest equalization is observed for the nose shape, the lowest one for hair color. The differences between the generations point to a shift towards long heads, narrow noses and fair hair.