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Apparently popular high schoolers grow up to be anxious adults

[Photo by: MsMojo/YouTube]

All hail the unpopular kids of high school: Apparently we grow up to be much happier adults.

According to research from the University of Virginia, popular kids—that is, the ones who who lacked fewer intimate, meaningful friendships and instead were broadly revered by their peers—grew up with a higher propensity for social anxiety.

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As reported in the Independent, findings from the journal Child Development concluded that “Close friendships may set teenagers on a trajectory to expect and therefore encourage supportive experiences in the future.”

What's more, those high schoolers with fewer, but higher quality friendships actually went on to improve in their mental health as they grew older. Those students who were more popular, which was defined in the study as the number of their peers who said they'd like to spend time with that person, were more prone to social anxiety later on in their lives. 

So what we're getting from this is, less friends equals less anxiety. Hey, we'll take it.

Have these findings been in true in your life? Let us know in the comments. 

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