We conducted a cross-sectional study in a cohort of Japanese adolescent schoolgirls (12-18 years of age) and their mothers (387 pairs). Age, lumbar bone mineral density (BMD), birth and menarche-related status, height, body weight and lifestyles were surveyed in the participants. The values of BMD, height and body weight were converted to standard deviation (SD) by age. There were 49 (12.7%) pre-menarche and 338 (87.3%) post-menarche daughters. BMD-SD, height-SD, vitamin D intake and vitamin K intake were significantly correlated between the pre-menarche daughters and mothers (P < 0.05), while BMD-SD, birth weight, age at menarche and all lifestyle-related factors were significantly correlated between the post-menarche daughters and mothers (P < 0.05). BMD-SD in the pre-menarche daughters was affected by BMD-SD in mothers (R (2) = 0.069, P = 0.033) and their own height-SD (R (2) = 0.199, P = 0.001) (model R (2) = 0.340), independently. BMD-SD in the post-menarche daughters was affected by BMD-SD in mothers (R (2) = 0.073, P < 0.001) as well as by their own age at menarche (R (2) = 0.020, P = 0.001), height-SD (R (2) = 0.022, P < 0.001), body weight-SD (R (2) = 0.081, P < 0.001) and intensity of exercise (R (2) = 0.015, P = 0.045) (model R (2) = 0.372), independently. The results suggest that BMD is strongly correlated between daughters and mothers and that a greater age at menarche leads to lower peak bone mass. It was also suggested that maintaining high-intensity physical activity and adequate body weight is important in achieving maximum BMD as factors amenable to intervention in post-menarche daughters.