This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Hermanussen, M., Bogin, B. and Scheffler, 2020. The regulation of human growth includes an understanding of competitive growth strategies and community effects on height. American Journal of Human Biology, 32(3): e23383, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23383. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions