An Examination of the Relationship Between Height and Delinquency

Purpose Height has been shown to influence social development, which can affect life outcomes such as involvement in delinquent behaviors. Previous studies have linked height to aggression but have not examined other delinquent behaviors. The current study examines multiple ways that height can affect violence, property offending, and alcohol use. Methods and Materials Data for the current study were drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Self-reports and parental reports were used from respondents regarding their demographic characteristics, height, and delinquent behavior. Multilevel modeling techniques and random effects models were employed to examine the main effects of height on delinquency, as well as potential mediating and moderating effects. Results The results showed that being short decreased the odds of engaging in violence, property offending, and alcohol use; however, this effect was mediated by subjective development for violence and property offending. There was no relationship between being among the tallest males and all three dependent variables. The only significant moderation effect was the significantly decreased odds of engaging in property crime for short males with high self-esteem compared to high self-esteem males of other heights. Conclusions Our main results suggest that while being short may decrease the risk for engaging in delinquency, these effects largely were mediated by the subjective development of the adolescent. We argue that the relationship between height and delinquency may be due to a complicated constellation of factors around perceived developmental maturity.