Pressure to be popular, bad for kids’ health
In an ironic twist of fate, a study shows that kids who work so hard to be liked often end up depressed.
The study observed 1,000 children aged 8-14 over three years who said being disruptive, having ‘cool stuff’ and looking good was often seen as the best way to become more popular among peers.
The results, however, show that valuing these behaviours actually has the opposite effect, with peer relations worsening over time for those kids turning to consumer-culture values.
There are also some interesting differences between boys and girls: depressive symptoms in boys tend to predict increases in their materialism, whereas depressive symptoms in girls tend to predict the internalisation of appearance concerns.
Dr Matthew Easterbrook, Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Sussex, will present some of the findings at the conference. He says: “Our results suggest that children who have low levels of well-being are particularly likely to become orientated towards consumer culture, and thus enter into a negative downward spiral.
“Consumer culture may be perceived as a coping mechanism by vulnerable children, but it is one that is detrimental to their well-being.”
Professor Robin Banerjee, Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Sussex says:
“Although friendly and helpful children were ultimately more popular over time, young people mistakenly predicted that the route to being liked was in having a reputation for disruptive behaviour, having ‘cool’ stuff and looking good.”
“What we found was another example of a downward spiral — those rejected by peers then turned to consumer culture, which actually worsened, rather than improved, those relationships.”
Dr Mark Wright, now a lecturer in psychology at the University of Brighton found that, while damaging for both groups, fashion models were more resilient than other young women to the emotional impacts of the pursuit of the perfect appearance. The impact on their well-being was mediated to some degree by their greater sense of belonging, the study found.
The latest research is part of a wider project at the University, led by Sussex psychologist Dr Helga Dittmar, that is systematically examining the impact of consumer-culture ideals on children’s personal and social well-being.
The research will be presented at the British Psychological Society’s Developmental and Social Psychology Section annual conference.
