Are tall people really happier?

Participants were asked to give their heights, details about their emotions and where they saw themselves on an imaginary life ladder.

According to the study, taller individuals overall evaluated their lives more positively and were more likely to report a range of favourable emotions, including enjoyment and happiness.

They were also less likely to register a range of negative feelings, including sadness and physical pain, though they were more likely to experience stress and anger, and if they were women, to worry.

Height, or lack of it, can be a source of stress for men, too.

Earlier this month the French president Nicolas Sarkozy posed in front of technicians at a motor technology plant in Normandy. Unusually, the president towered over everyone around him even though he is 5ft 5in. It was later claimed that members of staff

who were shorter than him had been bussed in to stand behind him.

Ali Paton, the TV presenter and former Gladiator who is 5ft 11in, believes that how height affects your life can be very different depending on whether you’re a man or woman, but believes there may be something in the theory that tall people are happier.

“Everybody in my family is tall and I would describe them as pretty happy,” she says. “A lot of my friends are relatively tall too and are all a fairly happy bunch. If you embrace being tall, it’s a positive, although excessively tall people can be quite unhappy because of their height.”

Ali, who lives in Edinburgh and reports for television channel 5 on the Bupa great runs, believes tall people can be pushed into becoming more outgoing and confident. “When you’re taller, you stand out and can’t get away with anything so you tend to have an inner confidence. People turn to you thinking that you’re far more capable than other people, just because you’re tall.

“I went to an event recently with a girlfriend who’s also tall and we both had high heels on and when we walked into the room, I said ‘we are the tallest things here’. So you kind of get pushed into pulling it off. You have to carry it off whether you feel it inwardly or not, or go and make yourself look like a wallflower.”

Ali does believe though that it can be harder for taller women than men because height can upset the traditional roles in a relationship. “If you suddenly have a female in the relationship who is earning the same and is just as fit and can do the DIY herself because she’s tall enough to reach all the corners, I think the guy can think ‘where do I fit it in?’”

Ali herself prefers a partner to be taller. “I wouldn’t really want to go out with someone who was shorter than me. You do feel less feminine if you’re with someone who’s shorter than you. As you grow up, your father is always taller and that’s your role model, I suppose.”

The American study looked at the differences between men and women and showed that men who reported that their lives were the “worst possible” were more than eight tenths of an inch (2cm) shorter than the average man. Women who saw themselves “on the bottom step” were shorter than the average woman by half an inch (1.3cm).

Earlier this year research also showed that tall men earn more than shorter ones. A 6ft man can expect to earn about 1.5% more than a man who is 5ft 10in. With women, the difference is less marked -- they need to be 4in taller to get a similar 1.5% boost.

Model Anna Freemantle, who’s 30 and lives in Edinburgh, says she has always felt happy with her height and her life. “I feel happy, although there is an expectancy that tall people have it easier which is not true. People say ‘you’re tall and thin, things are easier for you’.

“I was 5ft 11in when I was nine years old and I would stay quiet and out of trouble. I was almost apologising for it. But by the time I was 15 or 16, the roles had reversed.”

Anna also believes height has different consequences for men and women. “Perhaps it’s more important for a guy to be tall. A petite girl can be cute but not a petite man; he is more likely to be judged.”

Louise Ross is a director of the Tall Persons Club, which organises social events for tall people. Louise is 37 and is 6ft 3in and is very confident and happy. “Men tend to be more positive about being tall,” she says, “but quite a lot of the women I know who are tall are really shy.

“I also think that smaller people feel like they have something to prove. We can’t see you so we’ve got to hear you.”

I may be small, but I don’t feel short changed

Comment: Lucy Adams

If I had a penny for every person who has told me that good things come in small packages, I’d be a rich woman.

There seems to be an inbuilt need to produce a glib verbal response to the fact that I am slightly smaller than the national average -- 5ft 2ins in my bare feet.

Yet when I meet someone tall, fat, bald, or stupid, I feel no such need. Why apologise to me for something which, other than in the school high jump, poses no obstacles whatsoever and has many advantages?

Legroom in budget airlines is never a problem. Low ceilings prove no hazard, and children’s shoes and clothing are cheaper for those who can still fit into them.

For some, such as Napoleon, being short provided more a motivation than a challenge. Modern marionettes like Kylie Minogue are never even questioned about their stature.

Other attributes take centre stage. I cannot conceive of the male who would lust after her derriere only to lament her height.

Most importantly, there is the fact that people expect less of those of diminutive

stature. It is no Trojan horse but there is, potentially, an element of stealth.

For all those tall people who have dedicated time to patronising those they view as beneath them (time which, admittedly, might have been spent by small people conniving ways to reach the top shelf in the supermarket without causing an avalanche of mint sauce jars), prepare to be surprised.

Just because you can see the top of our heads, don’t presume to know what's inside them.

The time of the hunter-gatherer is over. Discrimination on any level seems to come from those who cannot accept that. It is not height or strength which will win the day.

The only measurement worth a damn is the size of your brain.