A teenage girl’s perceived place on her school's social ladder may affect her future weight. A study of more than 4,000 teenage girls found that those who believed themselves to be were unpopular gained more weight over a two-year period.
All of the girls gained some weight during the course of the study, in part because they were still growing. However, those who rated themselves low in popularity were 69 percent more likely than other girls to increase their body mass index by two units, the equivalent of gaining about 11 excess pounds.
Girls who put themselves on the higher rungs of popularity also gained some excess weight on average, but only about 6 1/2 pounds.
Weight and height were reported by the girls themselves, which the researchers acknowledged was a weakness in the study.