Abstract
Aim Short stature can affect a child’s life and is known to be related to incidents of bullying, social isolation, and other impacts related to short stature. In addition, various studies show that height is positively related to quality of life and social status, namely social dominance, professional achievement, education, and income. Factors that influence short stature are multifactorial. Therefore, research is needed on factors that inuence short stature. Factors that influence short stature need to be evaluated. Therefore, it is important to know the prevalence of short stature in prepubertal children’s population and the factors that influence short stature in prepubertal children.
Material and Method A cross-sectional research conducted in kindergartens and elementary schools or equivalents. The risk factors assessed are basic characteristic data, biogenetic factors (birth weight and length, gender, father’s height, mother’s height, and genetic potential), psychological (parenting style, age gap between siblings, multiparity), and socioeconomic (parental education, parental employment, and family income).
Results There were 175 subjects who took part in this study, with a prevalence of short stature of 14.2%. Bivariate analysis showed a p value <0.05 for short stature if there were more than 2 children, siblings less than 2 years apart, and permissive parenting. As well as several other factors that were also included in the multivariate analysis, which are mother’s height, genetic potential lowest cut-off, and the method of birth. Multivariate analysis shows that factors that inuence short stature include the mother’s short stature, age gap ≤ 2 years, number of children > 2, and permissive parenting style.
According to multivariate analysis, the factors that most influence short stature are maternal height (biogenetic factors), permissive parenting patterns, age gap between siblings, and number of siblings (psychosocial factors).
Conclusions The risk factors that influence short stature the most are the mother’s short stature, an age gap between siblings less than two years, number of children more than two and permissive parenting style.