What does the height of a person represent?

Answer 1

Height reflects many things, including:

• The combination of mother's and father's height, communicated to the offspring through genes.
• The effects of growth hormones on an individual.
• The absence of any abnormality that would have led to a shorter or taller height.
• The growth of the long bones, particularly in the legs.
• And, in the absence of an abnormalities in genes and other conditions, height can be used as one indicator of approximate age. Bones at maturation 'close' the growth plates at their ends, preventing further growth (unless there is an abnormality in genes. For example, a woman who reached her 18th birthday as a healthy female suddenly experienced rapid growth due to a gene abnormality and is now almost 400 pounds and close to 7 foot tall. Or, "Little Persons" may be short in stature all their lives, but live into late adulthood or longer.)