title: Self-control as predictor of school grades, life balance, and flow in adolescents.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recently, several studies have shown that strength of self-control is a crucial factor in determining positive outcomes in individuals' lives. Most attention has been directed to the relationships that self-control has with learning and academic achievement.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This article analyses the effects of self-control not only on school grades but also on the experience of life balance and flow. It is theorized that students with a higher level of self-control are better able to distribute their time in a satisfying way over academic and leisure matters, and are better able to shield their studying against distractions.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 697 eighth graders with a mean age of 13.4 years participated in the longitudinal study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Students completed a questionnaire containing measures of self-control, school grades, subjective life balance, and flow while studying at the beginning and at the end of the school year. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the relationships between the constructs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results of cross-lagged analyses show that self-control predicted school grades, life balance, and flow. The findings suggest that self-control may assist adolescents to be better prepared, not only for school, but also for coordinating their investments in different areas of their lives.
authors.affiliation: University of Mannheim, Germany. ckuhnle@rumms.uni-mannheim.de
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kuhnle
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hofer
authors.forename: Britta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kilian
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008019:Life Style; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires