What makes short men and women jealous

16 March, 2008

Shortness of stature has been widely believed to be linked to a host of psychological complexes, but a new research as confirmed that shorter men are more likely to become jealous husbands and jealous boyfriends than their taller counterparts.

The research was conducted by Spanish and Dutch scientists to examine the various factors responsible for the ‘short man syndrome’ or the ‘Napoleon syndrome.’

In the study, reported in the New Scientist magazine, a sample of 549 men and women in the Netherlands and Spain were asked to rate how jealous they felt and to identify the qualities that made them feel the most insecure.

While men said they were most nervous about attractive, rich and strong rivals, the taller ones said they were the most relaxed.

The results on women were rather complex. Women said that they were most jealous of the beauty and charm of others, with short women and tall women being the most jealous.

Women of average height, while being the least jealous, were mostly likely to feel insecure by women who were of a different height, the research revealed.

The report – produced by the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, and the University of Valencia, Spain – said women with average height tended to be more fertile and healthy. Hence women with average height would be unlikely to be jealous of women who are fertile and healthy.

They were more likely to be jealous of taller women with had masculine features such as physical dominance and social status.

The study report, which originally appeared in Evolution and Human Behavior, the official academic journal of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, pointed out that taller men may be less jealous because male height is associated with attractiveness, dominance and reproductive success. The animal kingdom, the researchers added, illustrated this point where larger males were likely to win fights and take dominance and monopolize access to females.

In humans, according to the study, height is one of the first features others notice and is associated with status. Researches conducted on the subject earlier had showed that taller men were likely to be more successful at work, have better salaries, and good-looking girlfriends.

Abraham Buunk, lead researcher, wrote in the study: “The new research shows that that taller men enjoyed psychological advantages as well and suggests that height may have important psychological consequences.”

A report by BBC said psychologists are of the opinion that factors other than height also played a role in jealousy. Simon Gelsthorpe, of the British Psychological Society, was quoted as saying: “Jealousy is a type of fear. It is about being afraid you are going to lose someone you love. One of the key components is self-esteem and obviously height is related to this but then so may other characteristics such as baldness. Another key element is how strong the relationship is.”

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