Social status affects one's well-being, health and longevity more than anything else — a number of studies have already come to this conclusion. Status is the

Social status affects one's well-being, health and longevity more than anything else — a number of studies have already come to this conclusion. Status is the lynchpin of many of our afflictions, from wars to suicides to intergroup and interpersonal conflicts. Alas, we rarely acknowledge this facet of humanity as it also underlies the "good" parts (love, belonging, trust), and instead opt to adopt ideologies and fight the same battle all in the name of "doing good"[1]. Also, for young adults in particular puberty leads to the onset of a tumultuous period of having to compete against the grain of what you phrased as "cultural messages of inferiority." School bullying is a wretched example of this dynamic, that doesn't necessarily arise from some culture out there (it starts from inside the school building). Adults are not particularly wiser either; somebody here mentioned "mate selection" being a common theme of young adults; however I wonder if they looked into "mate retention" (jealousy, envy, possessiveness, separation anxiety) which is a common theme among senior adults as well. [1] http://www.iea.org.uk/blog/the-economics-of-political-correctness http://www.iea.org.uk/blog/the-economics-of-political-correc...