Are popular kids more likely to be healthy adults?

Social status in childhood appears to influence one's health in adulthood, according to a 30-year study published today.

The study tracked more than 14,000 children born in Sweden in 1953. They were followed through 2003. When the children were in sixth grade, they were assessed for their degree of popularity, power and social status. The information was matched to data on subsequent hospital admissions recorded from 1973 to 2003.

The analysis showed the least-popular people in childhood had the highest overall risk of serious health problems as adults. They were four times as likely to be hospitalized for hormonal, nutritional or metabolic diseases compared with their popular classmates. They were more than twice as likely to develop mental health and behavioral problems and more than five times as likely to be admitted for unintentional poisoning. Finally, they were more prone to develop drug and alcohol abuse problems and heart disease.

The findings were not dependent on the children's social class, which suggests that social relationships had some significant bearing on future well-being.

It's possible that some health problems, such as psychological or behavioral problems, preceded relationships with peers, noted the authors from Stockholm University and the Karolinska Institute. But, they wrote, "peer status and health are perhaps best seen as parts of a process of mutual influence, evolving over time."

The study was published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

--Shari Roan

Photo credit: Spencer Weiner  /  Los Angeles Times

Comments

[julie]

Well, this is in Sweden. I think that maybe it would be somewhat different here in the US.

[Arzel Lingad]

this articles helped me with my health homework for school!

[Pointless Article]

Whats the point of this article? Waste of bandwidth. Its pretty captain obvious that kids who are not popular will turn to other things when they have no one else to hang out with.