Success for shorties

Bernie Ecclestone, Tom Cruise and Kylie Minogue never let it stand in their way.

Now scientists have confirmed what vertically challenged stars have always known - being small is no barrier to happiness and success.

New research suggests men and women who are shorter than average do just as well as their more statuesque peers in life, love and work.

And their diminutive stature does not make them any more likely to have vices such as alcohol and drugs dependency.

The findings follow a study of short people from the age of seven to young adulthood, focusing on youngsters who were much smaller than their classmates on starting school. It was carried out to assess the justification for prescribing around 4,000 children hormones to boost their height.

The British youngsters are given Growth Hormone Therapy (GHT) because doctors believe being small is such a disadvantage.

But on a range of measures - including relationships, education, careers and unemployment - smaller people fared exactly the same.

When the research began, the youngsters involved were in the bottom three per cent of the height range for children their age in Britain. Their height was measured every six months, and their progress at school monitored.

At the end of the 13-year study, when they were aged between 18 and 20, they were quizzed extensively.

Although most were still much shorter than average, the results revealed they were just as likely to have found romance, enrolled at college,

or to be doing well in a job, as taller former classmates. Exactly the same number in both groups were in higher education (63 per cent); while the unemployment rate stood at a similar nine per cent. Fifty five per cent of those in both groups were involved in "love relationships".

Smaller people were also no more likely to use alcohol or take drugs, with nine out of 10 of those in both groups reporting they drank regularly - and an equal 29 per cent claiming to have taken drugs.

Researchers claim the study raises serious questions over how often Growth Hormone Therapy is necessary. Dr Robert Stratford, of Southampton University, who led the study, said: "Our work suggests that increasing your height by three or four inches doesn't change your life."