Cambios en la adaptabilidad de niños y niñas durante los primeros diez años de vida en los altos de Chiapas

Abstract

A total of 1965 Tzotziles and Tzeltal children under the age of ten from the Chiapas highlands were measured to see if gender had any impact on growth. A non adaptation index (Balam and Gurri, 1994) was utilized to detect the different age and sex groups that might be under particularly stressful conditions. It was observed that male and female children suffered equally during weaning. Gender differences in adaptability were observed after weaning in the age cohorts in whom the different sexes begin to take on responsibilities that make energetic demands on them. Females begin to lose weight at age 5 when they incorporate themselves to the household labor and males at ages 7 and 8 when they begin to attend school and accompany their parents in agricultura1 chores. Gender differences at these ages were interpreted not as the result of unequal intra-household distribution of food resources, but rather due to a negative energy balance during the period when children start doing chores that require more energy. Due children start doing chores that require more energy. Due to the poor living conditions of the highlands populations, it is likely that the homeostatic conditions were restored in both sexes after the critica1 periods because the organism made the necessary accommodations (Frisancho, 1994), and not because of an increase in food intake