Cool kids at school are less likely to succeed as adults, with less popular children usually outstripping their cooler counterparts by the time they reach adulthood.

The study published in the journal Child Development, also found popular children are more likely to end up jobless or addicted to drugs in their twenties.

Researchers tracked the lives of 184 teenagers from the age of 13 for a decade, and found those considered less cool at school were outperforming their more popular peers within a decade.

Young boys who stole from their parents or spray-painted walls, were seen as cool in their teens, but were rejected as criminals in their twenties.