Political Liberation, Hope, and Social Competition Are the Motor of Secular Trends in Height

Abstract

Background

Long-term improvements in physical living conditions correlate with long-term trends in height.

Aim

To link temporal characteristics of the secular trend in height with the simultaneous political and economic dynamics.

Sample and Methods

Height of men of the German Armed Forces born between 1865 and 1975 was correlated with indicators of economic prosperity (GDP), nutrition and health (infant mortality), and indicators of social inhomogeneity (income inequality and household wealth share). The time periods before 1916, between 1916 and 1933, 1947, 1973, and after 1989 were separately analyzed. Coherence analysis was used to assess the changes in the temporal trends.

Results

Mean height of young adult men increased by 0.45 mm/year (before 1916), by 2.15 mm/year (1916–1933), by 1.87 mm/year in the early Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) until 1973, by 1.45 mm/year in the late FRG, and by 4 mm/year in East German conscripts after the reunification in 1989. The most substantial height increments occurred in periods of political upheaval and loss of state authority.

Conclusion

The nonlinear pattern of secular height increments in Germany since the late 19th century suggests that political liberation, hope for a better life, and illusions of equity, freedom, justice, and the expectation of social advancement are associated with competitive growth, strategic growth adjustments, and finally, long-term and substantial secular trends in height.