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Variation in juvenile dependence

Helping behavior among Maya children

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Abstract

Notable in cross-cultural comparisons is the variable span of time between when children become economically self-sufficient and when they initiate their own reproductive careers. That variation is of interest because it shapes the age range of children reliant on others for support and the age range of children available to help out, which in turn affects the competing demands on parents to support multiple dependents of different ages. The age at positive net production is used as a proxy to estimate the close of juvenile economic dependence among a group of Maya subsistence agriculturalists. Maya children produce more than they consume by their early to mid teens but remain in their natal households for a number of years before leaving home and beginning families of their own. The Maya results contrast markedly with those from several groups of hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists for whom we have similar data. Even in the Maya case, where children are self-sufficient at a relatively young age, parents are unable to support their children without help from others. The production surplus of older children appears to help underwrite the cost of large Maya families and subsidize their parents’ continued reproduction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, SUNY Stony Brook, 11794-4364, Stony Brook, NY

    Karen L. Kramer

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  1. Karen L. Kramer
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Correspondence to Karen L. Kramer.

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Much appreciation to the Maya for their graciousness in allowing me to live among them as part of their community. Valuable input was provided by Ron Lee, James Boone, Jane Lancaster, Hillard Kaplan, John Bock, Eric Charnov, and Kristin Hawkes.

Karen L. Kramer is an assistant professor at SUNY Stony Brook. Her research focuses on comparative study of hunter-gatherer and agriculturalist demography, life history and ecology. Currently she is collaborating with demographers at UC Berkeley using the Maya data to develop a model of intergenerational transfers across the family life cycle.

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Kramer, K.L. Variation in juvenile dependence. Hum Nat 13, 299–325 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-002-1011-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-002-1011-8

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