Methodological review reveals the origins of regression towards the mean in parent-child height distributions, highlighting statistical pitfalls in interpreting extreme measurements.
The statistical term “regression,” from a Latin root meaning “going back,” was first used by Francis Galton in his paper “Regression towards Mediocrity in Hereditary Stature.”1 Galton related the heights of children to the average height of their parents, which he called the mid- parent height (figure). Children and parents had the same mean height of 68.2 inches. The ranges differed, however, because the mid-parent height was an average of two …
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Bland et al. (1994) studied this question.
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