Body height and upward social mobility
- 1 January 1983
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Annals of Human Biology
- Vol. 10 (5) , 403-408
- https://doi.org/10.1080/03014468300006591
Abstract
Stature and education in 214 pairs of adult brothers and 188 pairs of adult sisters were analyzed in order to test the hypothesis that in modern stratified societies upward and downward social mobility is selective with respect to body height. Among the 116 male pairs in which the sibs differed in education and stature, the proportion of pairs in which the taller sib was the better educated (BE) was significantly higher than the proportion of pairs in which the taller sib was the less well educated (LE) of the 2. Mean intra-pair difference in stature between the BE and LE brothers was 1.26 cm, and significantly different from zero. In female pairs similar tendencies were noted but deviations from the null hypothesis were not significant. Implications of these findings are discussed.This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Are the differences in stature between social classes a modification or an assortment effect?Journal of Human Evolution, 1979