Self-control in Childhood Leads to Success Later in Life

January 1, 2011  |    research, Social and Emotional   | Keywords: self-control

Proceedings of the National Acadmey of the Sciences of the United States of America

The need to delay gratification, control impulses, and moderate emotional expression is one of the earliest demands that societies place on their children, and success at many life tasks depends critically on children’s mastery of such self-control. This study looked at the lives of 1,000 children and examined their mastery of self-control by age 10.  The authors then followed them for 30 years and traced the consequences of their childhood self-control for their health, wealth, and criminal offending.

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 http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/01/20/1010076108.full.pdf+html