Children worry about social status aged five

Children start to worry about their reputations from the age of five, according to psychologists.

By the time they go to nursery school, they are already developing “adult” concerns about social status, according to a review of recent research.

Dr Alex Shaw, from the University of Chicago, said: “We’re finding that the kinds of complex and strategic self-presentation behaviour we see in adults appear at a much younger age than previously known.”

Their awareness of social standing comes from adults and spans all cultures, the researchers said in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences.