An evaluation of the associations between socioeconomic status and the growth of Mexican-American children: data from the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HHANES 1982-1984)

This study considers the associations be- tween 1) various measures ofgrowth (triceps, subscapular, me- dial calf, and suprailiac skinfold thickness; stature; weight; and weight/stature2) and 2) poverty status in a sample of3587 Mex- ican-American children from HHANES (1 982- 1984). Corn- pansons are made with data for white children and black chil- dren inNHANES II(1976-1980).Differences betweenpoor (at or below the poverty line) and nonpoor (above the poverty line) Mexican-American children were small and not statisti- cally significant for most of the variables that were compared. Poor adolescent Mexican-American girls, however, had sig- nificantly greater mean skinfold thicknesses than nonpoor Mexican-American girls. When poverty status was held con- stant, Mexican-American children tended to be shorter but heavier and fatter than white children and black children. Across poverty status groups, weight/stature2 tended to be rela- tively high in Mexican-American children. Am J Clin Nuir 1990:51:944S-52S.