Theself-control skills of a child, such as meticulousness, self-discipline, and perseverance, canpredict health, well-being, and criminal history in later years of life, according to a study by Duke University in Durham (United States) published in the journalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The researchers, led by Avshalom Caspi, collected information on more than 1,000 participants in a study in Dunedin, New Zealand, in which they were followed from birth to 32 years of age. From routine evaluations by teachers, parents, observers, and the participants themselves, the researchers found thatregardless of IQ and social class, children who demonstrated higher levels of self-control as young as 3 years old wereless pronethat those with less self-control to develop health problems or drug abuse, to experience difficulties with credits and financial management, to raise a child in a single-parent home or to be in prison for having committed a crime in adulthood .
In a second study with a sample of500 twinsNon-identical British men found that siblings who scored lower on self-control measures at age five were more likely than their siblings to smoke early, perform worse academically, and engage in antisocial behavior from the age of 12.
The authors suggest thatearly interventions to improve self-control could benefit all types of childrenregarding their health, finances, and criminal history in adult life.
