SCOTT DEVEAU
Globe and Mail Update Published on Tuesday, May. 17, 2005 3:11PM EDT Last updated on Tuesday, Apr. 07, 2009 9:14PM EDT
While having a popular, well-adjusted teen may seem like a parent's dream, a new study reveals the more popular your child is, the more likely they are to experiment with drugs, booze, shoplifting, and vandalism.
“The kids that you think you have to watch the least, are in fact the ones that are at the greatest risk,” according to Dr. Joseph Allen, the study's lead researcher and professor of psychology at the University of Virginia.
Researchers from the universities of Virginia and Washington followed 185 seventh and eighth graders for one year. They evaluated the student's popularity, self-esteem, ability to develop close friendships, relationships with parents, alcohol and substance abuse and behavioural problems.
While the researchers found that popular teens were better adjusted and developed closer relationships with their parents than their less-popular peers, they also found popular teens were more likely to misbehave.
At an age when parents may want to reward maturity with more freedom, what they should be doing just the opposite, Dr. Allen told the globeandmail.com Tuesday.
The researchers found that popular 13-year olds had experimented with alcohol and marijuana as much as their less-popular peers.
But by 14, almost three times the number of popular teens had experimented with drugs and alcohol than their less-popular counterparts.
The study also found that popular students whose peers had higher levels of deviant behaviour showed some of the greatest propensity for things like shoplifting and vandalism.
Those teens, whose friends were more straight-laced, had less of a chance developing bad behaviour, but they were still more likely to engage in such activities than their less-popular peers.
Dr. Allen said teens are like “mini-politicians,” acutely tracking group norms and moving rapidly in the direction of whatever their peers are conforming to.
In short, the researchers noted, the more popular the teen, the more likely he or she was to get into trouble between 13 and 14 years of age.
“My take-home message for parents is if your kids are popular, then you should be happy for 10 seconds. After that, you should keep on eye on who they are popular with,” Dr. Allen said.
Researchers intend to follow the teens into early adulthood.
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