Popular, Cool Kids Face More Problems Later In Life, Study

Are you a 'cool' kid? Then beware of the consequences. Some adjustment problems can come back later in life to bite you, say researchers, according to dailymail.

Scientists conclude that teenagers who behave 'cool' face bigger struggles at school, higher risks of alcohol and drugs, as well as active participation in criminal activities.

The scientists had interviewed 184 teens from 13 years, who were studying in the seventh and eighth grades, right upto age 23. Scientists collected data from the teens, their peers and parents. The students went to public school in suburban and urban areas in southeastern United States, hailing from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds.

Teenagers who get romantically involved when young, get involved in "delinquent activity" and hang out with attractive friends, become popular when 13 years.

Surprisingly, by the time they turn 22, they are rated by peers as "being less competent in managing social relationships".

Moroever, they face a lot of issues with alcohol and drugs, and also get involved in crime, say researchers. Hence, teenagers who try to be cool as young teenagers tend to have more problems in early adulthood than their peers.

"It appears that while so-called cool teens' behavior might have been linked to early popularity, over time, these teens needed more and more extreme behaviors to try to appear cool, at least to a subgroup of other teens," says Joseph P. Allen and Hugh P. Kelly, Professors of Psychology at the University of Virginia, who led the study.

"So they became involved in more serious criminal behavior and alcohol and drug use as adolescence progressed. These previously cool teens appeared less competent--socially and otherwise--than their less cool peers by the time they reached young adulthood."

The new study conducted over a decade by scientists at the University of Virginia is being published in 'Child Development'.

Even as "cool teens" are looked up to by the media, trying to grab attention by looking older than their age does not really bring in the benefits, says the study.