Being healthy and looking good may not be the only benefits to losing weight.

A recent study found that girls who are obese are half as likely to attend college as those who are not.

Robert Crosnoe, sociology professor at the University of Texas at Austin, used information from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to author his own comparison study called "Gender, Obesity, and Education."

The longitudinal study, which began in 1994, surveyed nearly 90,000 students from grades seven through 12 at 132 schools, according to Crosnoe's study.

Crosnoe said the study brings to attention the negative social effects obesity has on people, particularly girls.

"It's a multifaceted issue," he said. "There's a general stigma for obesity but much stronger for girls."

Though obesity seemed to have an impact on girls attending school, Crosnoe's study found there was "no significant interaction between boys' obesity and the proportion of obese boys in the school."

Penn State sociology professor Stacy Silver said American culture has a certain beauty standard that pressures people to look a certain way, causing a stigma surrounding obesity.

"We're all exposed to the same cultural experience then internalize it, with even more narrow expectations for girls," Silver said. "One of the conclusions the author makes is that body image is more important for girls than boys. Usually girls are trying to be smaller, and boys are trying to be bigger."

The study also found that the negative stigma surrounding obesity generates negative feedback, such as bullying. This feedback causes the adolescents it affects to externalize it by taking drugs, drinking or slacking off at school.

However, a portion of those who are obese, "become academic stars to balance their physical stigma," according to the study.

Mary Anne Knapp, outreach and consultant coordinator for Penn State's Center for Counseling and Psychological Services, agreed that while obesity could contribute to lower college enrollment, other outside influences could affect the trend in obese girls as well.

"There definitely is a correlation in this study, but other factors could have contributed," she said. "It's not a simple cause and effect."

Crosnoe said one way to reduce this correlation would be to reduce the negative stigma surrounding those who are obese.

"When you have obesity being stigmatized, that makes it more than a health problem," he said. "If we reduce the obesity rate, that would reduce the stigma."

Crosnoe said the negative effects are caused by or can lead to depression in those who are obese.

"Within that trend there is a lot of variability," he said. "There are non-obese girls who are depressed also."

While there is a link between depression and lower college enrollment in girls, socioeconomic factors, such as parents' education level, can affect a high school student's likelihood of college enrollment, according to the study. Silver said there was probably more than one explanation.

"We don't really know what's going on in those girls' minds," Silver said, "I might try to find other factors that contribute to this link."

From a psychological perspective, Knapp said being confident with one's physical appearance is difficult, but is one of the first steps in fighting off negative standards of beauty.

"You have to figure out how to feel good about yourself internally, but combat outside comments," she said.