You might have experienced this in your own life, but now there's a scientific study to back up that smug feeling you experience when you find out that mean girl from school has not been as successful in life as she always threatened to be.
The University of Virginia recently published a decade-long study in its Child Development journal that unequivocally states that so-called popular people in school go on to struggle in later life.
"It appears that while so-called cool teens' behavior might have been linked to early popularity, over time, these teens needed more and more extreme behaviors to try to appear cool, at least to a subgroup of other teens," explained Professor Joseph P. Allen. "These previously cool teens appeared less competent - socially and otherwise - than their less cool peers by the time they reached young adulthood."
The study followed 184 students from the ages of 13 to 23, drawing on interviews from peers and parents as well observing them in school itself. The teenagers who focused on hanging out with their groups of fellow popular students and had relationships at an early age were later found to be popular with their peers.
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However, this faded in later years. The study also found that the popular children were more likely to engage in criminal behaviour in later years, too.
So instead of stalking that beeatch who spread a rumour that you had an affair with the only male teacher on Facebook, you can just watch the news and wait for her to turn up in front of a court.
Could you have predicted this yourself? Do you think it's true to say that once a mean girl, always a mean girl?
