The tall and the short of it: An investigation of height ideals, height preferences, height dissatisfaction, heightism, and height-related quality of life impairment among sexual minority men

•Mean actual height (179 cm) was shorter than mean ideal height (182 cm).•Height dissatisfaction increased as actual height decreased from 184 cm to 162 cm.•Treatment from others due to height crossed from positive to negative at 175-176 cm.•Heightism was reported by 11.0% of participants (predominantly shorter men).•Height dissatisfaction and heightism were associated with impaired quality of life.

Human height has attracted empirical interest from a variety of psychological perspectives. However, little research has explored height from the perspective of sexual minority men, inclusive of their height beliefs, height preferences, height dissatisfaction, experiences of heightism, and height-related quality of life impairment. We explored these height variables in 2733 sexual minority men who completed a survey distributed nationwide to Australian and New Zealander users of geosocial-networking smartphone applications. Results showed that men's ideal height (M = 182.26 cm, SD = 5.93 cm) was taller than their actual height (M = 178.96 cm, SD = 7.52 cm). Shorter and taller men reported negative and positive treatment from others due to their height, respectively, with the cross-over (i.e., neutral) point at approximately 175-176 cm. Heightism was reported by 11.0% of men. Height dissatisfaction and heightism were uniquely associated with quality of life impairment; the size of these associations was small.