As if there wasn’t enough to worry about when it comes to your career. You need to do well at school and university, impress people with your charisma and ensure you look the part. Now, we discover, you also have to be tall.
Taller People Do Earn More
It sounds a little far-fetched, but studies have shown that the taller a man is, the more money he is likely to earn. If you’re wondering just how much height affects your career and earnings, the statistics show that one inch in height equates to an extra $1000 of income a year. Height doesn’t just affect your wages either, it also affects your chances of promotion.
The Research
Initially, it seems like there might be a bit of heightism occurring here, or that height gains respect, or taller people are more confident in themselves. Pennsylvania University discovered that people who were tall in high school but short as adults still earned like tall people, and vice versa, people who were short in high school but tall as adults still earned like shorter people. Surely this means that there is no heightism at play, as it’s extremely unlikely that anyone would know what height a person was in high school, much less that they would discriminate based upon this information if they did.#
They also discovered that a child’s height at eleven had no bearing upon their future earnings, but their height at sixteen would determine their future earning potential.
Tall = Confidence = Social Skills
There are a couple of theories that could explain this correlation. One is that taller teenagers developed more confidence, had higher self-esteem and thought of themselves as leaders. It’s also might also be because a teenager with higher self-esteem might be more likely to join clubs and groups and therefore develop their social skills a lot more than those who lack the confidence to partake in extra-curricular activities. What we do know is that the shorter teenagers tend to avoid taking part in these activities, and taking part is key to success in later life.
Good Nutrition = Tall, brain growth and higher IQ
Another theory is that nutrition is extremely important when it comes to determining a person’s height, and good nutrition also contributes to other factors that will increase the earning potential of an individual such as optimal brain growth. It’s a fact that the food a child eats will contribute to how intelligent they become, as well as how tall, and toddlers that are fed foods that are processed and high in fats and sugars will have a lower IQ than those who are fed fruit, vegetables and pasta.
What is clear is that height really can determine your success, but the height is a result of other factors such as confidence and a good diet which are the real causes of a successful person. So encourage your kids to eat their vegetables and take part in extra-curricular activities, but you? You’ll just have to read our other blog posts and take what advice you can!
