Children who lack self-control are more likely to become adults with poor health and finances.
So say at Duke University in North Carolina, Terrie Moffitt at King鈥檚 College London and colleagues, who followed the progress of 1000 children born between 1972 and 1973 in New Zealand.
The team measured self-control by asking the children, as well as their parents and teachers, about their behaviour every two years between the ages of 3 and 15, and then at 18, 21, 26 and 32.
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Children with higher levels of self-control were more likely to have a higher socioeconomic background and a higher IQ.
After adjusting for both factors, the team found that adults who had low self-control as children were more likely to be overweight, have substance abuse problems, gum disease and sexually transmitted infections.
Criminal offence
They were also less likely to be homeowners, and more likely to have been convicted of a criminal offence.
In a separate study of non-identical British twins, the team found that the sibling with lower self-control at 5 years of age was more likely to have started smoking and be engaged in anti-social behaviours by age 12.
The team suggests governments should employ policies to target self-control in children.
, who researches human behaviour and criminology at Florida State University in Tallahassee, is sceptical of such an approach. 鈥淟evels of self-control are highly resistant to change, which is why they have been found to be so stable over long swathes of the life course,鈥� he says.
But , also at Florida State University, disagrees. 鈥淧eople can change,鈥� he says. 鈥淚dentifying low self-control as early as possible and attempting prevention and intervention is so much cheaper than costs associated with prisons, drug programmes and personal financial problems.鈥�
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