How a Girl's Social Standing Affects Body Weight

Is this really THAT surprising? How you look at yourself is one part of how other look at you. Good study, but obvious if you ask me.

I would say that a girl's weight will affect social standing... which will then affect her weight.

Think about it - If a girl is a little chubby she surely isn't going to be in the "popular" group, so she might be depressed and therefore gain weight.

I knew many girls in high school who starved themselves because they weren't willing to give up their spot on the cheerleading squad. That would mean that they weren't as popular. Many also were afraid off being ridiculed by their friends for gaining a small amount of weight.

It is a vicious cycle.

I would agree with Jarrett and Krista that it's sadly not suprising news. I too suspect that Krista is right -- popularity and social status is to some extent affected by a girl's weight, and so the thinner girls tend to have a higher status. And of course those who are unpopular *may* turn to food for comfort.

Do schools have a role to play in this? I vividly remember one physics lesson when I was about 13 -- we were supposed to weigh ourselves on a set of scales in the classroom (while learning about forces) and I was too embarrased to (I was a couple of stone overweight) so instead opted to use the "average" figure that the teacher gave us. She later wrote in my exercise book by it "Is this an under or an over-estimate?" ... as you can imagine, that hardly made me feel great!

I'm sure she didn't mean to be cruel, but teachers and others in positions of authority perhaps need to be careful that their words don't reinforce a child's low self-esteem.

Well, duh.

Self esteem, behavior, and weight are so strongly intertwined that I can't say I'm surprised.

It wasn't like this when I was in HS. (early 80s) There were some girls who were overweight but still had a high social status. Part of it was that they were pretty.
This was before every commercial was about diets and females wore a decent amount of clothing and shows like Baywatch.
This was also before the music industry started substituting eye candy over musical talent.

I feel sorry for any young female in today's culture. The pressure has to be unbelievable. Even doctors discourage parents putting their daughters on diets for fear of anorexia.

One girl in my graduating class lost a lot of weight in one year, going from really fat to skinny. She did it on diet pills, it was like an addiction. The thing is it never really changed anyone else's perception of her. She also become more spacey. She didn't look very good either. She didn't have the body definition of a female either. Diet pills are dangerous and evil.

When I was in high school, I was fat but I wasn't really "unpopular" exactly. I didn't really date any guys but I was the school valedictorian, the clarinet section leader for the school band, I was yearbook editor and president of the Spanish club. I had plenty of friends and I guess I didn't really view myself as having a negative social status. Until I got to college and all the girls on my floor in the dorm were skinny, smart, AND had boyfriends. So that's kind of when I decided to lose weight for good. I did improve my health, but I didn't improve my social status really.

i was the fat girl through grade school and the chubby girl through high school and part of college. I avoided becoming a total social outcast by developing a personality. if i couldn't get boys to like me, i figured i could at least talk to them through being smart, funny and witty. yea, i always knew i was heavy but i never really let it get in the way of living my life.

then one day the wrong guy said the wrong thing to me at the wrong time, and it REALLY wrecked my self-esteem. that led me to join the gym. steadily i also completely changed my eating habits. almost 4 years later, my weight is still steadily decreasing. i have to say i'm a bit obsessive about food and working out. but i figure doing the right things for the wrong reasons is better than not doing the right things at all.

so no, this study does not come as a surprise to me at all.

bijou said:
then one day the wrong guy said the wrong thing to me at the wrong time, and it REALLY wrecked my self-esteem. that led me to join the gym.

Congratulations!

Only the fittest survive. Is that a bad thing?

(Remember that too, when you lose. And never give up.)

I went to high school in the early 90's, and it wasn't like this for me, either. There were several "chubby" girls, even a couple of obese girls (which weren't all that common in my high school), in the "popular" crowd. I was thin for most of my childhood and certainly was never in the popular crowd. Far from it. I became overweight in high school, but I don't blame not being popular for my weight gain. I find the very assumption ridiculous. The girls who were in the popular crowd were not the "mean" ones. The mean girls were generally the outcasts. The popular group were for the most part very cordial, even friendly towards most everyone else, and had I had the guts to sit down with them at lunch, I believe they would not have turned me away.

I can vouch for this study from personal experience. What came first--the chicken or the egg--the low-self esteem and social problems, or the weight gain? For me, one fed the other. THe viscious cycle began when I was 8..I had some very unfortunate social experiences in school (and felt unsupported by my teacher as well as people who I really thought were my best friends). I felt bad about myself...I did not feel that I had the "cute"/"cool" look that I needed, and was undergoing orthodontal work that made my front teeth look weird. Plus I was the youngest, a big talker and always felt like I said the wrong thing. I began to eat more and gained a little weight--and became wrapped up in the dieting that my female family members were doing. I started counting calories at 8, in third grade.I really thought that getting thinner would fix me and make others stop picking on me. This started me off on a 31 year journey of eating , often secretly, definitely compulsively, for comfort and then dieting to undo my "sins". The more I dieted, the more I gained back. And the I continue to work on my self-esteem and weight, so many years later. I have since discovered that I am ok--imperfect and scarred--but certainly worthy of better treatment than I was goven back then and now worthy of taking care of myself.

"doing the right things for the wrong reasons is better than not doing the right things at all."

I totally agree. My life is driven by vanity. I go to the gym and eat right because I want to look good and be admired. Health is only a small part of it. In fact, I want to be healthy so I can look good.

To be honest, I don't even think that vanity is a bad reason to do things. There is a contempt for vanity in Anglo-Saxon culture that I think stems from puritanism. In my culture (Brazil), if a woman is called "vain", that's a compliment! It means she looks after herself, and that is respected.

Growing up, I had always been a nerd and athelete and I never knew what it felt like to be cute (for long periods of time).
When I lost a lot of weight in college, I was shocked by the attention that I got from males and females. Males found me instantaneously witty and fun to be around, while girls who I thought were my friends became threatened by my cuteness. It took years for my confidence to catch up with my looks. However, from that moment on I have tried to stay within the weight range that I got the most attention once I realized that weight and social status were connected. I have also picked better girlfriends since then.

See... im in high school and to be honest its the most horrible place to be, people are mean.

I am under the healthy BMI and i wouldnt put myself up that high on the popularity scale.

So in this case its not always true... its not like im ugly or soooo skinny you can see all my bones, most people would class me as pretty and thin.

But as said it does get effected by the rest of your life.

=)

im not amasingly clever either by the way =P

Well, I am really skinny and popular. If you have good looks and wear clothes from Hollister, Abercrombie, Juicy Couture, Nordstrom's, etc, then you will be popular.

Most of the time, I mean. But there is intense pressure to diet, even for me, and I am a beanpole. It is really sad what people are supposed to wear.

i think dieting for young people like teenagers should be at a certain level i think if a teenager is above his or hers wieght then why not iv been on a diet and im only 16 and it is fun you try all different foods

i just grauted in 07 and year in jr hight in high school i got made fun of alot because i was fat and guys never looked at me then i decided to change lost over 50 pounds when from 180 to 130 or less anyway i get more looks from people people arent as mean about my weight but its hard i bearly eat it runin my self cofidence and i havent eat a sweet in or anything surgery in 3 years but the main thing is i feel so much better about myself now then i ever did when i was fat and have way more friends too

well i would have to say that this is a good study but i am currently in high school now.and i think that this is not always true.being on the bigger side myself i am not always looked at by the guys but i have come to actually realize that many people who are lower than me on the social scale are surprised at who i am friends with.they are also shocked because i wear mainly jeans and t-shirts which is far from what all of my friends wear...im really not all into hollister and american eagle like them...but as far as i know all of the guys in my grade like me and i am well liked by most of the girls.i am friends will all of the "skinny" girls and even have a friend who is bigger too and has mostly the same friends as me.and i am not here to completly disagree with this article i have come to figure out just because i am a little smaller than her(my friend who is also bigger) that more guys and girls talk to me and are more likely to ask me to hang out...or flirt in the guys case.but as far as high school goes..it can be very harsh and i feel very lucky to be so well liked in high school.

I disagree. I am very skinny but I am disliked for my strong opinions.

definitely,,i totally agree...it's the lamest and saddest thing ever,but so true,we are in a society where human beings instead of all being equal and just trying to live on this earth in peace,we still have the "popular" and the "unpopular" the popular will do anything to not gain weight and the unpopular use foods to comfort themselves about not being popular :S

definitely,,i totally agree...it's the lamest and saddest thing ever,but so true,we are in a society where human beings instead of all being equal and just trying to live on this earth in peace,we still have the "popular" and the "unpopular" the popular will do anything to not gain weight and the unpopular use foods to comfort themselves about not being popular.
I am a junior high student right now. All the "popular" kids are skinny and pretty. I am chubby so that but me as an outcast. My few friends told me the only reason I don't have many friend is because I am fat but they are telling me to go on a diet, but I not sure if I should. My old best friend started to hate me when we hit 4th grade because I was chubby and she is super skinny and now she is the most popular person in school. All the kids that are dating in junior high are the skinny kids, so that make the chubby kids low life and for most people I know who was called lowlifes because they were chubby gained more weight. So weight has a big affected on girl's self-esteem .