Observations of reported and measured heights of mothers of short statured children.

A study was performed in which mothers of normal variant short statured children (n=37), were asked to state their own height. Then their body height was measured with a Harpenden Stadiometer. As control group, mothers of normal statured children (n=54) who were presented for various reasons (e.g. obesity, goiter) underwent the same procedure. The results show that the estimations are not reliable in short mothers with short statured children, whereas the control group showed no significant differences between reported and measured heights. There was a direct significant negative correlation (r=0.624; p < 0.001) between reported and measured heights in women with short children. The smaller the woman, the higher the reported height.