Popular kids more likely to be richies in adulthood

London, Mar 1 (ANI): Having more friends at school is not only good for a child's social life, but also boosts his or her chance of being rich in adulthood, concludes a new study.

Essex University researchers have found that for each extra friend a pupil had at school, their salary 35 years later was 2 percent higher.

"A workplace is a social setting. People have to manage each other and work in teams - you can see why social skills would be helpful", The Times quoted Professor Steve Pudney, of the university's Institute for Social and Economic Research, who carried out the research, as saying.

The research was based on a data from America in which groups of schoolboys were asked to name their three closest friends.

The number of nominations received by each pupil was added up.

Later the boys were interviewed at regular intervals between 1957 and 2004 in a bid to measure their earnings and relate the figures to the number of friends.

Also factors like intelligence and family income were taken into account. (ANI)