Infant Stress and Adult Stature: Research and Reactions1

Abstract

T. K. Landauer, J. W. M. Whiting, and several associates have published a series of articles relating infant stress in humans to later physical or physiological effects. The research was originally sug gested by developmental studies of laboratory animals and includes both holocultural and case studies. The stressful infant experiences studied include those involving pain-such as piercing-and separa tion from the mother. Later effects include stature and age of menarche. We have reviewed this research, and citations to it ap pearing in scholarly literature. The research stands as a single line of investigation, rather than as a series of separate pieces of research, and has received both favorable and unfavorable citations. We found that it is rarely cited as a "package." We also noted that unfavor able reactions tend to come from anthropologists, while psychologists -especially those involved in studies of animals-tend to welcome the findings of Landauer, J. W. M. Whiting, and colleagues. We have suggested some reasons for these findings.