Lecture 3

Froma very early age, some children exhibit better self-control than others. Now, a new study began with 1,000 children in New Zealandtracked how low self-control can predict poor health, money troubles and even acriminal record in their adult years. Researchers has been studying thegroup of children for decades now. Some of the early observations have to dowith the level of self-control the youngsters displayed parents, teachers, eventhe kids themselves, scored the youngsters on measures like "acting beforethinking" and "persistence in reaching goals." The children ofthe study are now adults in their thirties. Terrie Moffitt of Duke Universityand her research colleague found that kids with self-control issues tended togrow up to become adults with a far more troubling set of issues to deal with."The children who had the lowest self-control when they were age three to10, later on had the most health problems in their thirties," Moffittsaid, "and they had the worst financial situation. They were more likelyto have a criminal record and to be raising a child as a single parent on avery low income.""Even the children who had above-averageself-control as pre-schoolers, could have benefited from more self-controltraining. They could have improved their financial situation and their physicaland mental health situation 30 years later."So,children with minor self-control problems were likely as adults to have minorhealth problems, and so on.Moffitt said it's still unclear why somechildren have better self-control than others, though other researchers havefound that it's mostly a learned behavior, with relatively little geneticinfluence. But good self-control can run in families because children with goodself-control are more likely to grow up to be healthy and prosperous parents."Whereas some of the low-self-control study members are more likely to besingle parents with a very low income and the parent is in poor health andlikely to be a heavy substance abuser," said Moffitt. "So that's nota good atmosphere for a child. So it looks as though self-control is somethingthat in one generation can disadvantage the next generation."But the good news, according to Moffitt, is that self-controlcan be taught by parents, and through school curricula that have been shown tobe effective. But the good news is the Moffitt says that self-controlcan be taught by the parents and through school curricula that have proved tobe effective. Terry Moffitt’s paper on the link on self-control and adultstatus is later is published proceeding the academy of sciences.

23. What is the new study about?

24. What does the study seem to show?

25. What does Moffitt say is the good news tothe study?