Body height and upward social mobility

Abstract

Stature and education in 214 pairs of adult brothers and 188 pairs of adult sisters were analysed 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 both 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 two. 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.