Childhood self-control and unemployment throughout the life span: : Evidence from two british cohort studies

• Autores: Michael Daly, Liam Delaney, Mark Egan, Roy F. Baumeister
• Localización: Psychological Science, ISSN-e 1467-9280, Vol. 26, Nº. 6, 2015, págs. 709-723
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The capacity for self-control may underlie successful labor-force entry and job retention, particularly in times of economic uncertainty. Analyzing unemployment data from two nationally representative British cohorts (N = 16,780), we found that low self-control in childhood was associated with the emergence and persistence of unemployment across four decades. On average, a 1-SD increase in self-control was associated with a reduction in the probability of unemployment of 1.4 percentage points after adjustment for intelligence, social class, and gender. From labor-market entry to middle age, individuals with low self-control experienced 1.6 times as many months of unemployment as those with high self-control. Analysis of monthly unemployment data before and during the 1980s recession showed that individuals with low self-control experienced the greatest increases in unemployment during the recession. Our results underscore the critical role of self-control in shaping life-span trajectories of occupational success and in affecting how macroeconomic conditions affect unemployment levels in the population.