Popular Kids Less Successful Later in Life

The shy four-eyes who are bullied at school become much more successful than their peers in the future life.

It turns out that the notion of popularity at school is almost equivalent to failure in adult life. Researchers from the University of Virginia tracked the lives of a large group of teenagers for 10 years. It turned out that “swots” and “nerds” found themselves in more favorable positions by the beginning of early adult life, as compared to their most popular classmates. This concerned both boys and girls.

In total, the researchers tracked the lives of 184 children from the age of 13 to 23. Most popular children later abused drugs and alcohol, as well as suffered from social isolation that contrasted sharply with their school life. However, the concept of “coolness” and people who would match it, changed over time.

Thus, at 13, “cool” boys were those who showed pseudo-adult behavior like kissing girls and petty vandalism. However, after 10 years, such behavior was already a sign of dull-wittedness, and “cool” people were those who received a good education and found a well-paid job, i.e. have proved the triumph of the brain over brawn.