MENARCHEAL AGE IN UNIVERSITY-OF-WARWICK YOUNG-WOMEN

Data from the final 16 years of a 28-year ongoing survey of menarcheal age are reported. From 1971 onwards, recalled aged at menarche was recorded for all young women entering the University of Warwick. These data show that mean menarcheal age is increasing, a trend which is independent of father's occupation, family size, position of girl in the family, and physique. This continues a similar upward tendency noted in a preceding study in Swansea. It appears that the downward trend to earlier age at menarche of the earlier decades of this century has been replaced by one in the opposite direction.