A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety.
Policy-makers are considering large-scale programs aimed at self-control to improve citizens' health and wealth and reduce crime. Experimental and economic studies suggest such programs could reap benefits. Yet, is self-control important for the health, wealth, and public safety of the population? Following a cohort of 1,000 children from birth to the age of 32 y, we show that childhood self-control predicts physical health, substance dependence, personal finances, and criminal offending outcomes, following a gradient of self-control. Effects of children's self-control could be disentangled from their intelligence and social class as well as from mistakes they made as adolescents. In another cohort of 500 sibling-pairs, the sibling with lower self-control had poorer outcomes, despite shared family background. Interventions addressing self-control might reduce a panoply of societal costs, save taxpayers money, and promote prosperity.
Department of Psychology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27705, USA.
Terrie E
TE
Moffitt
Louise
L
Arseneault
Daniel
D
Belsky
Nigel
N
Dickson
Robert J
RJ
Hancox
Honalee
H
Harrington
Renate
R
Houts
Richie
R
Poulton
Brent W
BW
Roberts
Stephen
S
Ross
Malcolm R
MR
Sears
W Murray
WM
Thomson
Avshalom
A
Caspi
D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology*; D002666:Psychology, Child; D011640:Public Policy; D012737:Sex Factors; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
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