NY Times article forarded by H.

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From Today's New York Times:

Childhood: Shortness Is No Stigma

September 14, 2004

A new study may give pause to parents considering seeking

growth hormone treatments for their children because they

are small in height.

Researchers who surveyed almost 1,000 students said they

had found no evidence to support the common assumption that

people who are shorter than average - or, for that matter,

taller - suffered a greater share of social problems than

people of ordinary size. The study, led by Dr. E.

Sandberg of the University at Buffalo, appears in the

September issue of the journal Pediatrics.

In the past, when human growth hormone could be obtained

only from cadavers, its use was limited to children whose

small size appeared to result from a hormone deficiency.

But after 1985, when a synthetic version of the hormone

became available, its use spread to children, mostly boys,

who are simply short, the study said.

The goal, the researchers said, is to spare children

problems like teasing and loneliness. But no rigorous

studies have shown being short to be a serious social

liability.

For the study, the researchers surveyed students attending

grades 6 through 12 in a western New York public school

system. The students, who were not told that height was the

subject of the study, were asked to assess their own social

status, as well as the status of their classmates. They

were also asked questions like whether individual

classmates were good leaders, had trouble making friends or

were picked on a lot.

The researchers then correlated the answers to each

student's height. " In contradiction to the belief that

height plays a role in youths' social functioning, few

significant effects were observed, " the researchers wrote.