Dr. Daniel Pine, a child psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, and two colleagues tracked 716 children aged 9-18 over nine years. The girls with anxiety disorders grew up to be as much as two inches shorter than the others, and were twice as likely to reach an adult height of less than 5 feet 2 inches. Interestingly, the study found no association between height and anxiety in boys, suggesting that boys and girls may have different biological reactions to stress. While it’s still too soon to say for sure that worrying stunts girls’ growth, Pine’s findings are consistent with research showing growth-hormone abnormalities in adults with emotional disorders. Further investigation is needed to understand how childhood anxiety might relate to these hormonal abnormalities and how they in turn may affect growth. Besides, says Pine in calling for more research, “stature might be just one example of the effect these problems have on how kids get along.”
