Abstract
We analyzed data from the National Health Examination Survey (Cycle III), a representative sample of non-institutionalized US youth (3545 males (M), 3223 females (F), 12-17 yr of age), to examine the relationship between the height (normalized for age) (H) and measures of: intellectual development (WISC), academic achievement (WRAT), evaluations by teachers, and the educational aspirations and expectations of subjects and their parents. Parental education and income were used as measures of socio-economic status (SES); sexual maturation (by Tanner score) was categorized by age into early, mid, and late-maturers. WISC and WRAT scores were both significantly correlated with H (r=0.22 & 0.20 white M; r=0.22 & 0.22 white F; p<0.0001). Parental expectations that their child would finish college were higher for adolescents above the 50th percentile of height for age. (43% vs 33%, M; 30% vs 24%, F). Adolescent expectations that they would finish college were likewise higher in the taller group (48% vs 39%, M; 38% vs 29%, F). Teachers ranked the taller adolescents in the upper third of their class more frequently then the shorter adolescents (25% vs 18%, M; 33% vs 25%, F). These findings persist in both blacks and whites, in the lower and middle SES groups and when subjects with early and late maturation are excluded. These data demonstrate a consistent and statistically significant, although modest, correlation between H and these measures of intellectual and academic performance, as well as educational expectations of both the adolescent and parent.
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Wilson, D., Duke, P., Dornbusch, S. et al. HEIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT. Pediatr Res 18 (Suppl 4), 100 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-00041
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-00041