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The categories of the rural population, farmers, farm-workers and landless rural inhabitants were variously affected by the economic crisis, as well as by the process of economic transformation. This shows that living conditions of each of those categories changed in different ways and to a different degree during the years 1967-2001. Farmers' families achieved the highest social advancement, as the AM of girls from those families decreased by 0.98 years compared to those from farmer-worker and landless rural families, which decreased by 0.85 and 0.60 years, respectively.

The age at menarche, body height and weight of the daughters of farmers, farmer-workers and landless villagers in a rural region of Poland were studied. In the period 1967-1977, a time of economic development, a decrease in age at menarche (by 0.74 years) and a secular trend in body height (by 2.4 cm/decade) was observed. In 1977-1987, a period of acute economic crisis, age at menarche increased by 0.16 years and the secular trend in body height was only 1.1 cm/decade. In 1987-2001, age at menarche decreased and body height increased by 0.28 years and 2.9 cm respectively. The percentage of families owning a car, freezer and video increased during this period. These last results are indicative of an improvement in living conditions, but the villagers regard themselves as losers as a result of the political transformation (1989) in Poland.

Menarcheal age of 5546 Warsaw girls studied in 1976 was estimated by probit analysis as 12.73+/-0.03 SD 1.10 and of 7771 rural girls studied during 1976-1978 as 13.40+/-0.02 SD 1.20. The difference was 0.67+/-0.04. The difference between the groups from Warsaw and rural areas where fathers had only primary education was 0.57+/-0.07 year, while that between the groups where fathers had the highest education in both localities was only 0.31+/-0.09. When in both environments the groups were equated both for primary fathers' education and also number of children in the family, the differences in menarcheal age were 0.37+/-0.28, 0.49+/-0.11 and 0.47+/-0.14 in families with one, two and three children, respectively. In rural areas the effects of fathers' education on menarcheal age of daughters was much higher than in Warsaw. The secular trend from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s was 0.25 years per decade in Warsaw and 0.64 years per decade in rural areas, suggesting a decrease of social differences in maturation rate of Polish girls. Menarcheal age is sensitive to even small differences in living conditions.

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Village girls, 9.5-18.5 years of age, inhabiting various regions of Poland, were surveyed in 1967 (n = 7,886), 1977 (n = 7,771), and 1987 (n = 11,479). Based on the source of income of the families, three groups were identified: farmers, farmer-workers, and nonfarmers. The girls were also divided on the basis of the number of children in the family and education of their fathers. In all three surveys, the earliest age at menarche was observed in girls from the nonfarmer group and the latest in girls from the farmer group. In 1987 the ages at menarche were 13.27 ± 0.03 years and 13.58 ± 0.04 years, respectively. The rapid acceleration of menarcheal age (0.64 year) between 1967 and 1977 was halted, and perhaps, reversed from 1977 to 1987 (-0.06 year), reflecting the severe social and economic crisis in Poland. The later menarcheal ages observed in the last decade occur mainly among girls from families with four and five children. Girls from better educated rural families were more affected by the crisis than girls from families in which fathers have only an elementary or vocational training education. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The aim of the study is to present social distances in biological development of youth in the period of changes in economic and political situation in Poland.Material and methods: 1. Nationwide study of children and adolescents aged 7.5 to 19.5 years started in 1979 and repeated every decade till 2009, 2. Survey conducted in the region of eastern Poland in 1987 and 2007, 3. Study of rural girls repeated four times between 1967 and 2001. The differences in body height and age at menarche between the inhabitants of towns and rural areas, as well as the differences between rural girls determined by diversified source of income for the family, will be presented. The age at menarche (AM) in each study was calculated using probit method. A monotonic decrease in body height differences between the inhabitants of towns, and girls living in rural areas was observed. On the basis of nationwide studies arithmetic means of the differences in terms of age were 1.9 cm in 1979 and 0.82 in 2009. At the same time, differences in the AM among girls in compared agglomerations decreased from 0.36 to 0.26, respectively. In eastern region of Poland the difference in body height between the residents of towns and villages in 1987 was 1.76 cm, and in 2007, only 0.38 cm; the difference of AM decreased from 0.41 to 0.14 years.The research conducted on inhabitants of rural areas has shown the earliest maturation and slightly greater body height for girls from landless families and the latest maturation and the smallest body height for the daughters of farmers. The differences in AM between the two groups decreased from 0.53 years in 1967 to 0.15 in 2001.The political transformation (1989) unequally influenced people on different levels of urbanization, different socio-professional groups and residents of various regions of the country, but was reflected in the results of anthropological research.The largest social advancement measured in terms of acceleration of maturation in the period covered by the research was characteristic for rural girls, especially the daughters of farmers.

Unemployment in the Polish countryside and its effect on the development and rate of maturation of rural girlsThe aim of this study is to assess the biological status of girls from landless rural families - daughters of working fathers, and those of unemployed fathers. The measures include age at menarche, body height and weight, and the body mass index (BMI). The study of rural girls was conducted in 2001; a total of 9599 girls aged 9-18 were examined. The material used in the present article only embraces girls from non-farming rural families (N = 4476). It was divided into daughters of working fathers (86.5%) and those of unemployed fathers (13.5%). Daughters of working fathers mature earlier than those of unemployed fathers. The difference in the age at menarche is 0.39 years and is statistically significant. The age at menarche of daughters of unemployed fathers approximates the menarchal age of daughters from farming families with many children (5 or more) in which both parents have elementary education. In groups similar in terms of the father's education and the number of children in the family, daughters of unemployed fathers display a later age at menarche and a lower body height and weight. These results support the statement that a father's lack of employment affects the biological status of his daughters.