Attractive Teens Get Better Grades In School - But Don't Worry, There's Good News For Unattractive Ones Too!

From the LA Times:

A new study undertaken by researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Texas at Austin finds that teens rated as good-looking in high school got higher grades and were ultimately more likely to graduate college and get bigger paychecks as adults.

Well into adulthood, "people's personal appearance has powerful effects on their life chances," sociologists Rachel A. Gordon and Robert Crosnoe wrote in a briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families. "Our research shows that the critical period in which inequality on the basis of looks establishes itself is in high school."

It seems unfair that the good looking kids also do better in other areas of life.

But there's also good news for the unattractive kids; they do less destructive fun stuff:

Does all this mean that the least attractive teens were flunking? Nope: Researchers found that they were less likely to be sexually active or drink heavily, which "neutralized" the negative effects on their grades of having poorer mental health and fewer friends, Gordon and Crosnoe wrote.

So the good looking kids have the advantage of getting better grades. But the unattractive ones have the advantage of not having as much sex or partying. Something for everyone.

(Via Katherine Miller)