--- title: Cool Kids Likely to Have Drug, Alcohol, Social Problems Later in Life description: Being a nerd never felt so good canonical: https://time.com/2858971/cool-kids-more-likely-to-have-problems-later-in-life/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-12T03:59:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:27.142Z og:title: Cool Kids Likely to Have Drug, Alcohol, Social Problems Later in Life og:description: Being a nerd never felt so good og:url: https://time.com/2858971/cool-kids-more-likely-to-have-problems-later-in-life/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96c0bc39e6907882/69868b56e8524b83f1602759/lindsay-lohan-mean-girls.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1540 og:image:height: 866 og:image:alt: LINDSaFrom left: Lindsay Lohan as Cady, Amanda Seyfried as Karen, Rachel McAdams as Regina and Lacey Chabert as Gretchen in Mean Girls.AY LOHAN, AMANDA SEYFRIED , RACHEL MCADAMS , AND LACEY CHABERT og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cool Kids Likely to Have Drug, Alcohol, Social Problems Later in Life twitter:description: Being a nerd never felt so good twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96c0bc39e6907882/69868b56e8524b83f1602759/lindsay-lohan-mean-girls.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Cool' Kids More Likely to Have Problems Later in Life > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Twice a week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters.  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jun 12, 2014 3:59 AM UTC  \*\* ARCHIV \*\* Von links: Die Schauspielerinnen Lindsay Lohan als Cady, Amanda Seyfried als Karen, Rachel McAdams als Regina and Lacey Chabert als Gretchen in in einer Szene des Films 'Girls Club - Vorsicht bissig !' (Mean Girls). Die von Regisseur Mark S. Waters gedrehte Highschool Kommoedie kommt am Donnerstag 26\. August 2004 in die deutschen Lichtspielhaeuser. (AP Photo/ Michael Gibson) \*\* ARCHIV \*\* Von links: Die Schauspielerinnen Lindsay Lohan als Cady, Amanda Seyfried als Karen, Rachel McAdams als Regina and Lacey Chabert als Gretchen in in einer Szene des Films 'Girls Club - Vorsicht bissig !' (Mean Girls). Die von Regisseur Mark S. Waters gedrehte Highschool Kommoedie kommt am Donnerstag 26\. August 2004 in die deutschen Lichtspielhaeuser. (AP Photo/ Michael Gibson) Michael Gibson—AP  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jun 12, 2014 3:59 AM UTC Growing up, movies taught us that being popular in high school wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The nerds and losers in _Mean Girls_, _Sixteen Candles_ and _Superbad_ may have gotten picked on, but they always got their happy ending and the assurance that one day they would grow up to be smarter, wealthier and happier than the cool kids. Now, research suggests that the revenge of the nerds is no longer a pipe dream: popular teens are more likely to have problems later in life. A new decade-long study published Thursday in the journal _Child Development_ found that people who tried to act “cool” in early adolescence were more likely to have issues with drugs, their social lives and criminal activity later in life. Researchers at the University of Virginia gathered information from 184 teens, their peers and their families for ten years, beginning at age 13\. The participants in the study all attended public school in either suburban or urban areas in the southeastern United States and came from a variety of racial and socio-economic backgrounds. Teens who were considered cool at 13 tended to take part in delinquent behavior, engage in sexual activity earlier than their peers and placed a premium on hanging out with physically attractive people—you know, just like Regina George. But by the age of 22 these once-cool kids had fallen from social grace. Their peers rated them as less competent when it came to managing social relationships than others. The formerly popular youngsters were also more likely to become alcoholics, drug addicts and criminals. “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, a professor of psychology at UVA who led the study. “So they became involved in more serious criminal behavior and alcohol and drug use as adolescence progressed.” In other words, kids who are cool in seventh and eighth grade are so desperate to stay cool as young adults that they engage in unadvisable activities. The takeaway? 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