Hi scientists: Popular schoolchildren have more problems with self-esteem
Good news for those who did not have (or not) in school, like Taylor Swift. Sociologists and psychologists from the American University of Virginia found that in the long run, it is much more useful to have one or two close friends than the crowd of admiring fans and buddies.
It is the quality, and not the number of friends in adolescence - the key to the low risk of depression and faith in itself in the later years.
Researchers for a decade - from 15 to 25 years old - observed and interviewed 169 adolescents. Every year, the guys and girls filled out the questionnaires from answering questions about the number of close friends and just acquaintances, as well as their mental state and mood. The questionnaires filled their friends, so researchers were able to calculate the objective degree of popularity of experimental teenagers.
It turned out that by 20 years for the former queens and kings of school balls - those with whom the majority of respondents dreamed of friends - showed a very high level of anxiety, more often suffered from depression and problems with self-esteem. And those who did not enjoy popular in the masses, but nevertheless could boast at least one close friend, they grew up much more calm, balanced and fate resistant to plums. Moreover, this connection was traced regardless of what happened to graduates in adulthood, to whom they learned, who worked and how much.
So in the long run, the street that the whole road is glittered by the model of airplanes with the best root, it turns out in a more profitable position than the star, whose birthday dreams of getting the whole school.
The abundance of admirers does not replace strong friendly connections at all - and now, when even adults are sometimes inclined to be measured by the number of friends in social networks, it is worth remembering.
