Social Judgments by Children of Short Stature

Abstract

Recent psychiatric literature suggests that short stature in childhood may be associated with poor social judgment and a lack of adaptive competitiveness. In the present study these personal characteristics were evaluated for short children using the Picture Arrangement subtest from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). The test was administered either under experimental-competitive or standard conditions to 31 short male children and to 29 age-matched boys of normal stature. Significant differences in mean scaled scores were found between the short and normal groups. Increased scores under the competitive condition were observed for both groups. In contrast to previous reports, these results suggest that short children respond positively to competitive tasks. The findings are discussed in terms of emphasizing coping mechanisms of short children.