I have trouble buying this. I know far too many of the baby boom generation that are significantly taller than their parents of the WW-II generation, and far too few who are shorter, to believe this completely. (including my brother an I, only one "blood" uncle is about our height, the other earlier generation relatives are shorter) The baby boom also marks the transition from most people living on farms, to most people living in towns or cities with all the changes that brought. I also see the effect in first generation Americans, of most all ethnic groups, the kids are taller than the parents.
Maybe the effect didn't occur in England? Maybe the effect didn't occur in Jolly Olde, or happened much earlier, and they are just short.
I think it's wishful thinking on the part of the author.
Notice this so-called study was done by women? Do they have a bias? LOL
But seriously, go to any museum and see the outfits people wore in history and try making the same claim. Were this true, short shorts made their appearance eons ago, and some outfits would have been like thongs on the wearer.
It's possible that those surviving to adulthood, and therefore reaching their "full height," were the best-nourished and therefore tallest of the population. This would be consistent with the much shorter height on pre-adolescents, compared to today: they were malnourished, they didn't grow very tall, then they died young.
Height is very much a function of nutrition. Japan, for example, has been having to re-size many things in their society for the people born in the 80's and later. Even as children, they were so much taller than earlier generations that they needed bigger school desks, among other adjustments.
I don't know... I am the shortest of my family at 5'8". My mother is 5'10", my father was 6'. My brother is 6'4". I have first cousins who are 6'5" and 6'7. Both of my grandmothers were 5'10". My mother's grandfather was well over 6' tall (WWI vet). Much of the family has been in America since before the American Revolution. This is relevant because...
What I see is the the European stock in my family is shorter in height than the parts of the family that came over to America earlier. In other words, the longer the branch of the family has been in America, the taller the people in that branch tend to be. I think I am just a throwback to the shorter German genes.
bah, what do I know.