Shorter women are more dissatisfied with their height : An exploration of height dissatisfaction in Australian women

Journal article


Perkins, Thomas, Perkins, Samantha and Talbot, Daniel. (2021). Shorter women are more dissatisfied with their height : An exploration of height dissatisfaction in Australian women. Obesities. 1(3), pp. 188-199. https://doi.org/10.3390/obesities1030017
AuthorsPerkins, Thomas, Perkins, Samantha and Talbot, Daniel
Abstract

Height dissatisfaction has recently been found to be an important contributor to body dissatisfaction in males, however, there is currently limited research examining this relationship in women. The present cross-sectional study aimed to examine the link between height and height dissatisfaction in Australian women, and the extent to which height and height dissatisfaction relate to body dissatisfaction and quality of life. Additionally, it explored the height preferences of oneself and romantic partners in Australian women. A final sample of 172 Australian women was recruited to complete an online survey relating to height preference, height dissatisfaction, muscularity, drive for thinness, and quality of life. Results showed that there was a significant difference between the reported actual height of participants and their ideal height. We also found that shorter women tended to be more dissatisfied with their height and were more likely to believe that they were treated poorly due to their height. Our study also identified that the vast majority (84%) preferred a romantic partner taller than them. Results were comparable to men aspiring to be taller than they were. Future studies should consider height dissatisfaction as a potential contributing factor to poor quality of life and negative affect.

Keywordsheight; height dissatisfaction; women; quality of life; height preferences
Year2021
JournalObesities
Journal citation1 (3), pp. 188-199
PublisherMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI AG)
ISSN2673-4168
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3390/obesities1030017
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85142879088
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
Page range188-199
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online13 Dec 2021
Publication process dates
Accepted09 Dec 2021
Deposited23 May 2025
Additional information

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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