The Popularity Gap

The Popularity Gap
A new study reveals that for teens, it's not whether you're really popular. It's whether you think you are.
Sarah Kliff

Newsweek Web Exclusive
Feb19,2009
Perhaps no period of life is more fraught(involvido,cheio) with obsessive worries about popularity, social hierarchies and reputations than that treacherous(traiçoeiro), three-year period known as middle school. The social anxieties(ansiedades) of adolescence have driven plotlines(enredos) from "The Wonder Years" to "Hannah Montana" where teens and pre-teens spend entire hours and episodes agonizing over what their peers(semelhantes) think. Figuring out whether you'll end up being a cool prom king or queen bee--or the kid who eats alone in the cafeteria--is an integral part of becoming a teenager.
Turns out, it doesn't necessarily matter. Whether or not your high class voted you "most popular," teenagers who perceive themselves as well liked are just as socially successful over time as the kids who actually are part of the in-crowd, according to a new study in the May-June issue of Child Development. In fact, the overlap between the kids who believe they're popular and those who are deemed(acreditar) popular by their peers is pretty small. "Certainly there's a subset(subgrupo) that feels good about themselves and is also popular, but that isn't the majority," says Kathleen Boykin McElhaney, a research associate in psychology at University of Virginia who conducted the study. Her findings add to a growing body of research suggesting that our perception of how we fit into the social world is just as important--if not more important--than our real-life position in the social world.
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