Christchurch Health and Development Study at the University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand.
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2013 Jul;52(7):709-717.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2013.04.008. Epub 2013 May 25.
A study by Moffitt et al. reported pervasive associations between childhood self-control and adult outcomes. The current study attempts to replicate the findings reported by Moffitt et al., adjusting these results for the confounding influence of childhood conduct problems.
Data were gathered from the Christchurch Health and Development Study, a longitudinal birth cohort studied to age 30 years. Self-control during ages 6 to 12 years was measured analogously to that in Moffitt et al., using parent-, teacher-, and self-report methods. Outcome measures to age 30 included criminal offending, substance use, education/employment, sexual behavior, and mental health. Associations between self-control and outcomes were adjusted for possible confounding by gender, socioeconomic status (SES), IQ, and childhood conduct problems (ages 6-10).
In confirmation of the findings of Moffitt et al., all outcomes except major depression were significantly (p < .05) associated with childhood self-control. Adjustment for gender, SES, and IQ reduced to some extent the magnitude of the associations. However, adjustment for childhood conduct disorder further reduced the magnitude of many of these associations, with only 4 of the 14 outcomes remaining statistically significantly (p < .05) associated with self-control. After adjustment for gender, SES, IQ, and conduct problems, those individuals who scored higher in self-control had lower odds of violent offending and welfare dependence, were more likely to have obtained a university degree, and had higher income levels.
The findings from this study suggest that observed linkages between a measure of childhood self-control and outcomes in adulthood were largely explained by the correlated effects of childhood conduct problems, SES, IQ, and gender.
莫菲特等人的一项研究报告称，儿童自我控制与成人结果之间存在普遍关联。本研究试图复制莫菲特等人报告的发现，并调整这些结果，以消除儿童行为问题的混杂影响。
数据来自基督城健康与发展研究，这是一项对出生队列进行的纵向研究，研究对象年龄为 30 岁。6 至 12 岁期间的自我控制通过类似于莫菲特等人的方法进行测量，使用父母、教师和自我报告方法。30 岁时的结果测量包括犯罪、药物使用、教育/就业、性行为和心理健康。自我控制与结果之间的关联通过性别、社会经济地位（SES）、智商和儿童行为问题（6-10 岁）进行调整。
与莫菲特等人的研究结果一致，除了重度抑郁症之外，所有结果都与儿童自我控制显著相关（p<.05）。性别、SES 和智商的调整在一定程度上降低了关联的强度。然而，对儿童行为障碍的调整进一步降低了许多关联的强度，只有 14 个结果中的 4 个与自我控制仍具有统计学显著相关性（p<.05）。在调整性别、SES、智商和行为问题后，自我控制得分较高的个体暴力犯罪和福利依赖的可能性较低，更有可能获得大学学位，并且收入水平更高。
本研究的结果表明，儿童自我控制与成年后结果之间的观察到的联系在很大程度上可以通过儿童行为问题、SES、智商和性别相关效应来解释。
