No effect of birth month or season on height in a large international sample of adults

Abstract

Although several studies in recent years have provided evidence of a relationship between month of birth and height during childhood, the association remains less clear for adult (final) height. Here, I investigated this relationship using a large international sample of adult actors. Analyses considered both the sample as a whole, as well as subsamples based on nationality, and treated men and women separately. In all instances, I found no relationship between birth month or season and height, even after controlling for year of birth. This may be due to the particular nature of samples of actors, who are taller than the general population, or could suggest more broadly that birth month effects are minimal or absent in adults.

Keywords

• anthropometry
• actors
• human biology
• adulthood