Rhee Soo Hyun, Friedman Naomi P, Smith Watts Ashley K, Corley Robin P, Hewitt John K, Robinson JoAnn, Zahn-Waxler Carolyn
Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80309-0447, USA.
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Campus Box 345, Boulder, CO, 80309-0345, USA.
Behav Genet. 2018 Mar;48(2):125-134. doi: 10.1007/s10519-017-9886-7. Epub 2018 Jan 3.
Lower self-control is a significant correlate or predictor of a wide range of adult outcomes, and this association may be due to more general tendencies toward childhood externalizing problems. The present study examined the association between toddlerhood self-control expressed within a "don't" compliance task (at 14-36 months) and later externalizing problems (parent-reported externalizing problems from age 4 to 12 years, teacher-reported externalizing problems from age 7 to 12 years, and self-reported conduct disorder symptoms at age 17 years) in a longitudinal, genetically informative study. The slope of self-control, but not its intercept, predicted later teacher-reported, but not parent- or self-reported, externalizing problems. That is, increase in self-control during toddlerhood was associated with lower levels of later teacher-reported externalizing problems. The slope of self-control was no longer a significant predictor of teacher-reported externalizing problems after controlling for observed disregard for others, a robust predictor of externalizing problems. Thus, the hypothesis that self-control is the primary predictor of externalizing problems was not supported. Results from genetic analyses suggested that the covariance between the slope of self-control and teacher-reported externalizing problems is due to both genetic and shared environmental influences.
较低的自我控制能力与多种成人期结果显著相关或具有预测作用，这种关联可能归因于童年期外化问题的更普遍倾向。本研究在一项纵向、具有遗传信息的研究中，考察了在“不”服从任务中表现出的幼儿期自我控制能力（在14至36个月时）与后期外化问题之间的关联，后期外化问题包括4至12岁时家长报告的外化问题、7至12岁时教师报告的外化问题以及17岁时自我报告的品行障碍症状。自我控制能力的斜率而非截距，预测了后期教师报告的外化问题，但未预测家长或自我报告的外化问题。也就是说，幼儿期自我控制能力的增强与后期教师报告的较低水平的外化问题相关。在控制了对他人的明显漠视这一外化问题的有力预测因素后，自我控制能力的斜率不再是教师报告的外化问题的显著预测因素。因此，自我控制是外化问题的主要预测因素这一假设未得到支持。遗传分析结果表明，自我控制能力的斜率与教师报告的外化问题之间的协方差是由遗传和共享环境影响共同导致的。
