Fun Isn’t Overrated
A New FAU Study Sheds Light On Popularity Among Children
And now for something that’s no laughing matter.
Parents, listen up: Having fun has serious implications for your child’s well-being, according to researchers from Florida Atlantic University and Concordia University in Montreal, who explored the topic in depth.
Their findings, published in the Journal of Personality, examined whether children who are well-liked and popular got that distinction because they were considered fun.
Children between the ages of 9 and 12 in Florida and Colombia were the subjects of the two-month study, which showed that “children perceived by classmates as someone who is fun to be around experienced an increase in the number of classmates who liked them and the number who rated them as popular.”
And, researchers noted, it didn’t matter if the children were attractive, athletic, leaders or other attributes usually associated with popularity.
But what exactly makes a child fun?
“One potential combination is surgency and ego resilience, which make the child a novel and exciting companion,” says Brett Laursen, lead author and a professor in the department of psychology in FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, according to a press release. “Well‐liked children present few adjustment difficulties and tend to succeed where others do not.”
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