A study by the University of Virginia has concluded that “cool” kids in school ultimately are less successful than their “geekier” peers. It found that those in the former group “were more likely to suffer drug abuse problems and social isolation as adults.” The Daily Mail (UK) reports:
The findings of the study – published in the journal Child Development – will be familiar to fans of the Lindsay Lohan film Mean Girls, which charts the fall from grace of high school pupils who are obsessed with their image and popularity.
Professor Joseph Allen, lead author of the study, reiterated that the most socially successful teenagers were often heading for a fall.
‘The group of young people who seemed to be on the fast track in adolescence … ended up more like a dead end,’ he said.
He added that he hoped the findings would be a comfort to parents who worried about how popular their children were at school.
‘Young people who get a lot of reinforcement and praise and attention for superficial kinds of qualities are at risk,’ he told the Sunday Times.
‘They come to depend on these, which don’t have much appeal in the wider, adult world.
I think those who have worked in schools for some amount of time would tend to agree with these conclusions. Often, “cool” kids are those who are disruptive, bully other students, and thumb their noses at school work. Many of them see the light, so to speak, come high school, but productive habits begin early.
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