Age statement and misstatement in the nineteenth-century Philippines : some preliminary findings

Abstract

In this study of mid-nineteenth century Tigaon, comparisons of actual ages (calculated from baptisms) with stated ages (at marriages and burials and in parish censuses) show a high degree of error. Over half of all stated ages of adults, for example, were more than one year in error. Much of this error appears to be random, and some may be accounted for by digit preference, tax avoidance, or simple "rounding up". There are also indications, however, of an underlying indigenous model of society based on physiological development rather than chronological age ; stated ages, particularly for women, tend to bc adjusted toward the fertile years between 18 and 40.