Table 1 Competencies and behavioural problems of medically referred children with short stature (SS) compared to control groups (CON).

Study	n		Age	Scholastic competence	Social competence	Social problems	Externalising problems	Internalising problems	Thought problems	Attention problems	Self‐concept
	SS	CON		d	d	d	d	d	d	d	d
Gordon et al17/Richman et al15†	24	23	6–12	−0.10	−0.66*		0.29	0.77*			−0.38
Huisman et al23	30	norms	5–15	low		ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	normal
Sandberg18‡§	73	688	6–10	0.00	−0.62***	0.21*	−0.21	0.10	0.42***	0.05
				0.10	0.23	0.00	−0.41	−0.17	0.12	−0.23
Sandberg et al16‡¶	258	norms	4–18	−0.38***	−0.60***	0.38***	0.13	0.30**	0.21	0.20*
				−0.44***	−0.10	0.51***	0.00	0.16	0.20	0.24
				−0.32**	−0.52***	0.62***	0.17	0.42***	0.21	0.21
				−0.45**	0.00	0.30	−0.15	−0.09	−0.26	0.18
Siegel13	90	90	8–13	−0.61***	−0.58**		0.47*	0.74***
Skuse et al14/Gilmour et al19§	22	22	6–11	ns	ns	0.90*	ns	ns	0.84**	0.99**	−0.30
											0.17
Sandberg et al26‡¶	522	norms	4–18				0.03	0.22**
							0.15	0.34***
							0.18*	0.40***
							−0.15	−0.03
Kranzler et al5	27	29	6–12	−0.49**			0.54*	0.15		0.68*
Visser‐van Balen et al4	38	norms	10–13			0.73**	0.28	0.54*	0.26	0.59*	0.02
Erling et al27	33	norms	9–15								ns
Stabler et al25††	80	norms	5–16	low	ns		high	high

*p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001, ns = not significant.

The d values reflect the difference between the short stature and control (reference) groups in standard deviation units. A positive score indicates that the children with short stature have a higher score on that scale than the control group, which means higher competence (positive), more behaviour problems (negative), and higher self‐concept (positive).

The d values have the following common effect sizes: a value smaller than 0.2 reflects no difference, while values between 0.2 and 0.5, between 0.5 and 0.8, and greater than 0.8 reflect small, moderate, and large differences, respectively.³⁷ Asterisks indicate whether the mean scores of the short stature groups significantly differed from the control groups.

†Self‐concept: mean effect size of the six Piers Harris self‐concept scales.

‡Includes other aetiologies, such as growth hormone deficiency.

§First line: boys; second line: girls.

¶First line: boys aged 4–11; second line: girls aged 4–11; third line: boys aged 12–18; fourth line: girls aged 12–18.

††Percentage of children with problems compared to general norms.