A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety
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Abstract
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.
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The record
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Topic
- Health disparities and outcomes
- Field
- Social Sciences
- Canadian institutions
- McMaster University
- Funders
- National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial ResearchEunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentNational Institute on Drug AbuseNational Institute of Mental HealthNational Institute on AgingEconomic and Social Research Council
- Keywords
- SiblingProsperitySelf-controlCohortPublic healthControl (management)Psychological interventionScale (ratio)PsychologyEnvironmental healthGerontologyEconomicsMedicineDevelopmental psychologyPsychiatryEconomic growth
- Has abstract in OpenAlex
- yes