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We ask (1) what is the magnitude of the \u201ctransgenerational growth potential\u201d? and (2) to what extent narrows this potential upon entering a specific historic community?<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Samples and Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>We report on the height of more than 14 million German conscripts and recruits born between 1865 and 1975.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Between the late 19th and the late 20th centuries, mean male height increased from 165.8\u2009cm (SD 6.5\u2009cm) to 180.1\u2009cm (SD 7.0\u2009cm). The skewness of the height distribution was always close to zero. Height was statistically associated with living conditions, but the association disappeared when linking characteristics of the within population distribution of height with the disparity of living conditions and economic inequality. Mean height of the social community is a strong attractor of individual height and reduces the \u201ctransgenerational growth potential\u201d by more than 50%.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Strong effects of the social community outweigh the effect of individual living conditions and substantially narrow the transgenerational growth potential, to protect against being \u201ctoo tall\u201d or \u201ctoo short\u201d within the social community.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1002\/ajhb.70085","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,12]],"date-time":"2025-06-12T05:13:33Z","timestamp":1749705213000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Avoiding \u201cToo Tall\u201d and \u201cToo Short\u201d: The Effect of the Community on the Regulation of Body Height"],"prefix":"10.1002","volume":"37","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4037-1597","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael","family":"Hermanussen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Pediatrician University of Kiel  Kiel Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4827-3150","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christian","family":"A\u00dfmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Statistics and Econometrics University of Bamberg  Bamberg Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1954-7578","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christiane","family":"Scheffler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IBB Human Biology University of Potsdam  Potsdam Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_13_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10995\u2010010\u20100670\u2010z"},{"key":"e_1_2_13_3_1","volume-title":"The Distribution of Wealth in Germany 1895\u20132018","author":"Albers T. 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