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. 2011 Feb 15;108(7):2693-8.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1010076108. Epub 2011 Jan 24.

A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety

Terrie E Moffitt  1 , Louise Arseneault, Daniel Belsky, Nigel Dickson, Robert J Hancox, Honalee Harrington, Renate Houts, Richie Poulton, Brent W Roberts, Stephen Ross, Malcolm R Sears, W Murray Thomson, Avshalom Caspi
Affiliations

A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety

Terrie E Moffitt et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

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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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Design of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Self-control gradient. Children with low self-control had poorer health (A), more wealth problems (B), more single-parent child rearing (C), and more criminal convictions (D) than those with high self-control.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • The significance of self-control.
    Duckworth AL. Duckworth AL. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Feb 15;108(7):2639-40. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1019725108. Epub 2011 Feb 7. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011. PMID: 21300864 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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