Liu Yuk-Chien, Groth Detlef
University of Potsdam, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, Bioinformatics Group, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
Anthropol Anz. 2018 Jun 11;74(5):445-450. doi: 10.1127/anthranz/2018/0855.
The association between stature and social dominance is known. Dominance within social groups and current politics are related issues. We therefore aimed to compare estimates of the opinion of a population about their current political issues, with physical growth. We used data on the 2012 and the 2014 elections for the Japanese House of Representatives and the percent proportion of votes of the 47 prefectures of Japan, and regional data on body height of 17.5 year old men and women. Information on capita income, possession of mobile phones, urban/rural population ratio, and age distribution were added to capture socioeconomic factors. Four political parties were present in most of the 47 prefectures: the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the New Komeito Party (Kom) that is known for their social network community, and the Japanese Communist Party (JCP). A dense network of associations exists between height, age distribution, per capita income, number of smartphones, and voting results. Male and female body height was inversely related with the proportion of votes for New Komeito Party. Average stature decreases by one mm per percent votes for this political party. Medium strong positive associations were found for male body height and voting results of the DPJ and for female body height with the JCP election results. In modern Japan, popular preferences for conservative political structures coincide with shorter stature.
身高与社会主导地位之间的关联是已知的。社会群体内部的主导地位与当前政治是相关问题。因此，我们旨在将民众对当前政治问题的看法估计与身体发育进行比较。我们使用了2012年和2014年日本众议院选举的数据以及日本47个县的选票百分比数据，还有17.5岁男性和女性的地区身高数据。为了捕捉社会经济因素，还加入了人均收入、手机拥有情况、城乡人口比例和年龄分布等信息。在47个县中的大多数地区有四个政党：自民党（LDP）、日本民主党（DPJ）、以其社交网络社区闻名的公明党（Kom）以及日本共产党（JCP）。身高、年龄分布、人均收入、智能手机数量和投票结果之间存在紧密的关联网络。男性和女性身高与公明党选票比例呈负相关。该政党每增加一个百分点的选票，平均身高就降低一毫米。发现男性身高与民主党投票结果以及女性身高与共产党选举结果之间存在中等强度的正相关。在现代日本，对保守政治结构的民众偏好与较矮的身高相吻合。
