Status among peers likely continues to play a role in social functioning and well-being beyond adolescence. This study examined how emerging adults in tertiary education defined popularity, and their beliefs regarding aggressive and prosocial behaviors affording status. The role of status motivation, own status, and gender in these definitions and beliefs were explored. Emerging adults primarily associated popularity with being central, liked, and respected. Gender prototypical features (attractiveness and likeability for women; power and centrality for men) were associated with high popularity. Compared to adolescence, popularity in emerging adulthood was associated more with likeability and less with attractiveness, power, fitting in, or antisocial behavior. Prosocial behavior, openness, extraversion, and dominance were identified as the most important ways to acquire popularity. The findings indicate that popularity is relevant to emerging adults and offer several directions for future research in order to benefit the social well-being of emerging adults in tertiary education.

同龄人的地位可能会继续在青春期后的社会功能和幸福感中发挥作用。这项研究调查了高等教育中的新兴成年人如何定义受欢迎程度，以及他们对提供地位的攻击性和亲社会行为的信念。探讨了地位动机、自身地位和性别在这些定义和信念中的作用。新兴成年人主要将受欢迎程度与成为中心、喜欢和尊重联系在一起。性别原型特征（女性的吸引力和可爱度；男性的权力和中心地位）与高人气相关。与青春期相比，新兴成年期的受欢迎程度更多地与可爱性相关，而与吸引力、权力、适应或反社会行为的相关性较低。亲社会行为、开放性、外向性、和支配地位被认为是获得人气的最重要方式。研究结果表明，受欢迎程度与新兴成年人有关，并为未来的研究提供了几个方向，以造福高等教育中新兴成年人的社会福祉。