Children who impress their peers at school tend to go on to enjoy better health as adults, research suggests.
The study was based on a 30-year follow-up of more than 14,000 children born in Sweden in 1953.
The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health study found the least popular children had a nine times higher risk of ischaemic heart disease.
They were also more at risk of diabetes, drug, alcohol and mental health problems.
The degree of popularity, power and status enjoyed by each child was assessed when the children reached sixth grade in 1966 by asking them who they most preferred to work with at school.
Individual children were categorised into five status bands depending on how many nominations they received.
The researchers then matched up this data against information on hospital admissions between 1973 and 2003.
For both men and women, the children who were furthest down the pecking order at school had the highest overall risk of serious health problems as an adult.
For instance, they were more than four times as likely to require hospital treatment for hormonal, nutritional and metabolic diseases as the most popular children. Read more...
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