Are Taller People Happier?
According to a recent survey of 454,065 people as part of the daily polling in the Gallup-Healthways Index of Well-Being, it has been determined that height is directly correlated with higher life satisfaction for both men and women.
Participants answered survey questions about overall life satisfaction, income and emotions experienced that day. Each additional inch in height increased a woman’s life satisfaction as much as a 3.8% increase in income. For men, an additional inch in height increased life satisfaction by 4.4% — meaning an additional 10 inches in height was comparable to a 44% increase in income.
Participants also rated the emotions they felt “during a lot of the day” on that particular date. Taller men and women reported higher ratings for enjoyment and happiness, but also reported more stress. Those who were taller also reported less sadness and physical pain. Taller people reported slightly higher rates of anger and worry, but the difference was not significant.
Life satisfaction for that particular day was rated on a scale of 1 to 10. Under the Gallup-Healthways Index, survey participants respond to daily questionnaires.
Dr. Saad appears as an expert consultant in the documentary S&M: Short and Male. According to Dr. Saad, these results were expected for men, but not for women. Previous research showed that taller men earn more and are more likely to be CEOs of major corporations.
Other research shows that women prefer taller mates, and that the preference is more pronounced during times of the month when the woman is most fertile. One study showed that only 0.14 percent of women are married to shorter partners, rather than the 2% that would be expected from chance. These findings would help explain why taller men are happier, but not why taller women are.
The study raises more questions than it answers. Height was self-reported, rather than objectively measures. This could be a problem, since short men often overstate their height, while tall women may understate their height. In this case, however, such falsehoods would make the results more notable, rather than less significant.
The study did not report the degree of statistical significance, leaving some doubts about the validity. Nor did it establish cause and effect, or explore whether taller people were happy due to higher incomes, more opportunities or for other reasons.
By Joni Holderman, [email protected], contributing reporter for Mental Health News.