Mainstream Mental Health

Why Not Being Popular May Be Good for Long-Term Mental Healthhttp://www.teenvogue.com/story/not-being-popular-good-for-mental-health If you're the kind of person who has only a few close friends, you might feel envious of more popular people, those who seem to effortlessly maintain friendships with basically everyone. It might seem like they're always having fun, while you're left on the fringes. But in the long run, science says you might be better off.According to a recent study, people who have a few close friends in their teen years, as opposed to having many friends but fewer close relationships, benefit long-term. If you have a small but tight-knit friend group when you're 15, researchers found that when you're 25, you're likely to have more self-worth and fewer mental health symptoms like anxiety and depression. On the other hand, people who were more popular at age 15 are more likely to experience social anxiety a decade later.Over a period of 10 years, researchers followed 169 teens of varying backgr