PSY 348 Chapter Notes - Chapter 20: Early Childhood Intervention, Psy, Self-Control
10 May 2018
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PSY 348 – Psychology of Self Control
Reading #20 – April 19, 2018
A Gradient of Childhood Self-Control Predicts Health, Wealth, and Public Safety | Moffitt et al (2010)
Abstract and Intro
- Policy makers considering programs aimed at self-control to improve citizens’ health and wealth
and reduce crime
- Childhood self-control predicts physical health, substance dependence, personal finances, and
criminal offending outcomes following a gradient of self control
- Lower self control had poorer outcomes, despite shared family background
- Self-control under both genetic and environmental influences
a. Predicts early mortality, psychiatric disorders, unhealthy behav ( overeating, smoking, unsafe
sex, drunk driving, noncompliance w/ medical regimens)
- Examined adult health outcomes (substance dependence, inflammation, metabolic abnormalities)
- Examined wealth outcomes
- Examined convictions
- Tested whether children’s self-control predicted later health, wealth, and crime similarly at all
points along self-control gradient from lowest to highest self-control
a. Interventionsthat achieve even small improvements should yield improvements in health,
wealth, and crime rate
- Improving self-control assoc w/ better health, wealth, and public safety
- Hypothesize that children w/ low self-control make mistakes as teenagers that close doors of
opportunity and ensare them in lifestyles harmful to their health and wealth as well
- Hypothesize that individual diff in preschoolers’ self-control predict outcomes in adulthood
Results
- Mean levels of self control higher among girls but health,wealth, public safety equally evident
- Greater self control more likely to have been brought up in socioeconomically advantaged
families and had higher IQs
- Predicting Health
a. As adults, children w/ poor self-control were not at elevated risk for depression
b. Elevated risk for substance dependence
c. Children w/ poor self-control rated by informatns as having alcohol and drug problems
- Predicting Wealth
a. Poor self-control offered significant incremental validity in predicting socioeconomic posit
they achieved and income they earned
b. Children w/ poor self-control were less financially planful
i. Less likely to save and had feweree financial building blocks for future
ii. Struggling financially in adulthood
iii. More money management difficulties and had accumulated more credit problems
- Predicting crime
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Document Summary
A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety | moffitt et al (2010) Policy makers considering programs aimed at self-control to improve citizens" health and wealth and reduce crime. Childhood self-control predicts physical health, substance dependence, personal finances, and criminal offending outcomes following a gradient of self control. Lower self control had poorer outcomes, despite shared family background. Self-control under both genetic and environmental influences: predicts early mortality, psychiatric disorders, unhealthy behav ( overeating, smoking, unsafe sex, drunk driving, noncompliance w/ medical regimens) Examined adult health outcomes (substance dependence, inflammation, metabolic abnormalities) Tested whether children"s self-control predicted later health, wealth, and crime similarly at all points along self-control gradient from lowest to highest self-control: interventionsthat achieve even small improvements should yield improvements in health, wealth, and crime rate. Improving self-control assoc w/ better health, wealth, and public safety.
