Can Growth Hormone Heighten Kids' Confidence?

July 27, 2007 — -- Are you too short? Missing out on opportunities because tall people have an advantage? What if, when you were young, you could have done something about it? Today many kids try to.

Kaitlin Christopherson of Lake Jackson, Texas, was short. She was a 14-year-old eighth-grader in 2005, but was only as tall as most fourth-graders.

Kaitlin said she never realized she was short until people started making fun of her for it.

"They would tell me, 'Why don't you just grow,' you know, stuff like that," she said.

Feeling left out by other eighth-graders, Kaitlin sought out younger girls. Her best friends were seventh-graders, and even they were taller than Kaitlin.

She said the hardest part of being short is just feeling odd.

"Feeling like you're different, like you're weird. … You know, I want to be normal. I want what everybody else wants."

Kaitlin's sister, Cassie, is two years younger but was several inches taller. When "20/20" offered Kaitlin a camera to record a video diary, she eagerly accepted and talked about how she hates being shorter than her little sister.

"I always feel like [my sister is] embarrassed of me. I feel like I embarrass people because I'm shorter than them," she said. "You know I feel like, my sister and I, even though we're only two years apart, can't have that relationship other sisters do because she might be embarrassed for her friends to see me."

Her unhappiness was hard on her mom, Amy. "It was very hard to see her crying."

When a child comes home crying, most parents want to do something about it.

"You do want to do whatever you can." Kaitlin's mom said.

Ryan Hersch of Long Island, N.Y., was short too.

"I wanna be tall like my friends," he said. "I don't care if I'm like an inch smaller. I don't want to be five inches smaller like I am now."

When we first met Ryan, he was 13 and just 4 feet 5 inches tall.

"When he was 2, he looked [like] he was 1. When he was 4, he looked like he was 2," said his mom, Jodi.

Ryan's dad, Danny, said he fears Ryan might never grow past 5 feet.

"Certain opportunities won't come his way. … Out in the business world, dating girls."

He has a point. Studies show that tall men and women earn more money: A 6-foot-tall man earns on average almost $5,000 more than someone 5 feet 6 inches. In fact, each inch adds an average of almost $800 a year.

Height even matters in elections. Twenty-one of the last 26 presidential elections were won by the taller candidate. President Bush was an exception, but even he's 6 feet tall. Bill Clinton was taller than Bob Dole. The first President Bush was much taller than Michael Dukakis. Reagan, Nixon and Eisenhower were all taller than their opponents. William McKinley in 1896 was the last president who was shorter than average.

Parents fear that if their kids are short, they'll suffer.

Ryan's dad said, "The only reason Ryan's ever picked on — ever — is because of size."

At age 13, Ryan had worn the same size sneaker for four years, so his parents took him to endocrinologists — doctors who specialize in hormone production. Kaitlin's mom did the same.