Children who wear contact lenses feel better about how they look and their athletic abilities, and feel more accepted by others than those who wear glasses, a new study said.

But needing either to improve vision did not seem to make children feel differently overall about their self-worth or grades, lead researcher Jeffrey Walline of Ohio State University said in a news release

"The effects really seem to be in areas that we would think made sense -- how they feel about their appearance, athletic abilities and what their friends think of them," Walline said.

For the study, about 500 nearsighted 8- to 11-year-olds were randomly assigned to wear either glasses or contacts.

The patients were surveyed before they got their eyewear and over the years.

"The largest difference between the treatment groups was for physical appearance, regardless of whether they initially liked wearing glasses," Walline said. "This indicates that children's physical appearance self-perception is likely to improve with contact lens wear, even if they don't mind wearing glasses."

Walline said the study suggests that even young children should be given the option to select contact lenses over glasses. Typically, contact lenses are not given until the early teen years.

The research was published in the March issue of the journal Optometry and Vision Science.