According to new research funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the answer may be yes.

Adults who have been overweight since high school are more likely to be unemployed or on welfare than those who gained weight gradually during their 20s and 30s, according to a study published in The American Journal of Epidemiology. People who have been persistently overweight since high school are also more likely to be single at 40 and have no more than a high school education, compared with those who have gained weight slowly over time, the study showed.

“We know a lot about the fact that obesity is associated with a lot of health problems later on,” said the lead author, Philippa J. Clarke of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. “But we tried to look at the social and economic consequences of being persistently overweight.”

But a most interesting connection to school:

Importantly, good grades in high school lowered a student’s risk for being persistently overweight as an adult, suggesting that schools present a unique opportunity for curbing lifelong weight problems.

“There is something about school attachment or getting kids to be more connected in school,” Dr. Clarke said. “It makes us think there is something about the school setting that can divert people form this high-risk weight gain category.”

Read more here.