Table 1.
Does poor self-control in childhood lead to poor health, wealth-related problems, and criminal convictions in adulthood?
| Model 1: Baseline bivariate associations |
Model 2: Co-occurring childhood risk factors hypothesis |
|||||
| Adult outcomes and predictors | Coefficient | 95% CI/SE | P | Coefficient | 95% CI/SE | P |
| Health | ||||||
| Physical health index* | ||||||
| Low family SES | 1.218 | 1.127–1.316 | <0.001 | 1.154 | 1.058–1.258 | 0.001 |
| Low IQ | 1.224 | 1.133–1.323 | <0.001 | 1.092 | 0.993–1.20 | 0.069 |
| Low self-control | 1.196 | 1.113–1.285 | <0.001 | 1.111 | 1.020–1.209 | 0.016 |
| Recurrent depression† | ||||||
| Low family SES | 1.038 | 0.876–1.229 | 0.667 | 0.955 | 0.790–1.153 | 0.629 |
| Low IQ | 1.232 | 1.031–1.470 | 0.022 | 1.208 | 0.978–1.493 | 0.080 |
| Low self-control | 1.187 | 0.944–1.419 | 0.059 | 1.099 | 0.849–1.352 | 0.369 |
| Substance dependence index* | ||||||
| Low family SES | 1.343 | 1.184–1.523 | <0.001 | 1.281 | 1.116–1.470 | <0.001 |
| Low IQ | 1.218 | 1.074–1.382 | 0.002 | 1.012 | 0.870–1.177 | 0.880 |
| Low self-control | 1.299 | 1.156–1.460 | <0.001 | 1.186 | 1.038–1.355 | 0.012 |
| Informant-reported substance problems‡ | ||||||
| Low family SES | 0.118 | 0.033 | <0.001 | 0.076 | 0.036 | 0.033 |
| Low IQ | 0.081 | 0.034 | 0.014 | −0.026 | 0.041 | 0.507 |
| Low self-control | 0.178 | 0.035 | <0.001 | 0.169 | 0.039 | <0.001 |
| Wealth | ||||||
| SES‡ | ||||||
| Low family SES | −0.266 | 0.033 | <0.001 | −0.124 | 0.034 | <0.001 |
| Low IQ | −0.400 | 0.033 | <0.001 | −0.312 | 0.039 | <0.001 |
| Low self-control | −0.263 | 0.035 | <0.001 | −0.082 | 0.038 | 0.023 |
| Income‡ | ||||||
| Low family SES | −0.214 | 0.032 | <0.001 | −0.107 | 0.034 | 0.002 |
| Low IQ | −0.291 | 0.033 | <0.001 | −0.199 | 0.039 | <0.001 |
| Low self-control | −0.238 | 0.034 | <0.001 | −0.112 | 0.038 | 0.002 |
| Single-parent child rearing†§ | ||||||
| Low family SES | 1.301 | 1.067–1.586 | 0.009 | 1.140 | 0.909–1.430 | 0.255 |
| Low IQ | 1.395 | 1.117–1.741 | 0.003 | 1.126 | 0.869–1.458 | 0.369 |
| Low self-control | 1.633 | 1.304–2.046 | <0.001 | 1.479 | 1.147–1.908 | 0.003 |
| Financial planfulness‡ | ||||||
| Low family SES | −0.151 | 0.032 | <0.001 | −0.090 | 0.036 | 0.011 |
| Low IQ | −0.160 | 0.034 | <0.001 | −0.059 | 0.040 | 0.124 |
| Low self-control | −0.195 | 0.034 | <0.001 | −0.141 | 0.039 | <0.001 |
| Financial struggles‡ | ||||||
| Low family SES | 0.095 | 0.033 | 0.003 | 0.077 | 0.036 | 0.032 |
| Low IQ | 0.029 | 0.035 | 0.369 | −0.068 | 0.041 | 0.078 |
| Low self-control | 0.152 | 0.035 | <0.001 | 0.156 | 0.039 | <0.001 |
| Informant-reported financial problems‡ | ||||||
| Low family SES | 0.131 | 0.033 | <0.001 | 0.035 | 0.036 | 0.317 |
| Low IQ | 0.192 | 0.035 | <0.001 | 0.077 | 0.041 | 0.045 |
| Low self-control | 0.274 | 0.034 | <0.001 | 0.230 | 0.039 | <0.001 |
| Public safety | ||||||
| Criminal conviction† | ||||||
| Low family SES | 1.578 | 1.337–1.863 | <0.001 | 1.373 | 1.140–1.654 | 0.001 |
| Low IQ | 1.431 | 1.218–1.680 | <0.001 | 0.967 | 0.792–1.179 | 0.737 |
| Low self-control | 1.830 | 1.559–2.148 | <0.001 | 1.714 | 1.425–2.063 | <0.001 |
Additional details are provided in SI Appendix, Table S1. SES, socioeconomic status.
*Incident-rate ratio.
†OR.
‡Standardized ordinary least squares regression coefficient.
§This analysis is restricted to 47% of the study members who have had a child.