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Socioeconomic variation in estimated growth velocity of schoolchildren from a rural, subsistence agricultural community in southern Mexico
Author(s) -
Little Bertis B.,
Buschang Peter H.,
Malina Robert M.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330760404
Subject(s) - subsistence agriculture , socioeconomic status , geography , agriculture , socioeconomics , variation (astronomy) , rural community , demography , economics , archaeology , sociology , population , physics , astrophysics
Socioeconomic variation in estimated growth velocities (annual growth increments) of several anthropometric dimensions was considered in schoolchildren from a rural, subsistence agricultural community in the Valley of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. The children (114 males, 99 females), 6–13 years of age, were measured twice, approximately one year apart. Annual growth increments were computed by subtracting measurements taken in the fall of 1978 from those taken in the fall of 1979. Information on household land holdings and appliances and parental occupation was used to compute an index of socioeconomic status (SES). Analysis of annual increments among upper SES (65 males, 45 females) and lower (49 males, 54 females) children indicated negligible differences. The results suggest that growth deficits evident in the children at school age occurred in infancy and early childhood so that there was little, if any, SES variation in growth rate at the school ages.