Self esteem for teens can mean a lifetime of success

For her second installment on inner fitness, Lisa found an economist's study of teen self esteem and future earning potential.

Measure of Success
How much of our success is due to being tall? There are so many supposedly scientific studies that reinforce stereotypes about tall people being more successful than shorter ones. They never really say what they consider tall to be and they never seem to address a pretty fundamental question: Do tall people succeed because of how others see them, or do tall people succeed because of how they see themselves?

Evidence Discovered
Obviously it sounds like the kind of question we could debate for years and never really settle, but three clever economists have gone ahead and settled it. Well a major part of it anyway. Their names are Nicola Persico, Andy Postlewaite, and Dan Silverman of the University of Pennsylvania, and they've uncovered a key bit of evidence: Tall men who were short in high school earn like short men, while short men who were tall in high school earn like tall men.

Habits Of Thought Formed Early
While it doesn't completely rule out height bias, it pretty much rules out discrimination. It's hard to imagine how or why employers could discriminate in favor of past height. If tall adolescents - even those who stop growing prematurely - grow up to be highly paid workers, it's got to be because they've got some other trait that employers value. Persico, Postlewaite, and Silverman believe that trait is self-esteem. Tall high-school kids learn to think of themselves as leaders, and that habit of thought persists even when the kids stop growing.

Sweet Sixteen
If not self-esteem, what else could it be? Are tall kids better-nourished? Do they come from wealthier homes or have better-educated parents? Are they smarter? Do they mature early and therefore get more out of high school? One by one, the Penn economists considered and eliminated these hypotheses by examining relevant data. That leaves self-esteem-and very specifically, self-esteem in adolescence. Height at age 7 or 11 turns out to have no impact at all on future wages. But height at age 16 makes all the difference in the world.

Participation Matters Most
Why should adolescent self-esteem be so significant? Partly, perhaps, because self-esteem, once learned, lasts a lifetime. But partly also because a kid with self-esteem is more likely to join the teams, clubs, and social groups where he learns to interact with people. And that participation is clearly valuable. The economists report that "after controlling for age, height, region and family background, participation in athletics is associated with an 11.4 percent increase in adult wages, and participation in every club other than athletics is associated with a 5.1 percent increase in wages." These effects account for part, but not all, of the wage premium for adolescent height.

What We Know
Of course the causality might go the other way: Maybe it's not self-esteem that gets you to go out for the chess club, but success in the chess club that breeds self-esteem. What we do know is that shorter kids tend to avoid extracurricular activities, and those activities are clearly associated with success in later life.

What You Can Do
No matter how tall your child is, encourge participation in sports or clubs. Find activities that will help foster a new level of positive interaction, as well as a sense of pride and accomplishment because you could be setting your child up for a lifetime of success.