Longitudinal growth in height, weight, and bone age of Guatemalan Ladino and Indian schoolchildren.

Abstract

Three longitudinal samples of Guatemalan schoolchildren are compared for amounts and rates of growth in height, weight, and bone age. The samples include children of two ethnic backgrounds: Ladinos, Spanish-speaking people of, generally, Western cultural orientation; and Indians, people of Mayan cultural descent. The Indians are of very low socioeconomic status (SES) and attend a public school in a rural village. The Ladinos come from two SES groups living in Guatemala City, one of high SES attending a private school and the other of low SES attending a public school. Graphical and statistical analyses show that for all samples of boys and girls there are generally, significant differences between samples (high SES>low SES>Indian) for amounts of growth in height, weight, and bone age. Boys show significant differences in rates of growth between samples, with the high SES sample growing more rapidly than the two low SES samples. Girls show significant differences in the rate of growth in height, but not in the rate of growth in weight or bone age. For Both boys and girls, rates of growth in height and weight differ more between samples than does rate of Skeltal development. These results demonstrate that (1) SES-related deficits in growth are cumulative during childhood and early adolescence, that (2) rates of growth for boys are, generally, more sensitive to the influence of SES than are the growth rates of girls, and that (3) childhood growth deficits of low SES children of low SES children are likely to carry over into adulthood.