Your Bratty Kid Destined to Be a Fat, Diseased, Broke, Drunken Criminal

Think your child's bad behavior is "just a phase" that he or she will get over? Think again.

Tantrums and lack of self control in toddlers is a sign they may grow up to be drugs addicts and criminals, claims research.

[...]

The long term study followed more than 1,000 children in New Zealand through their lives to see if there was a connection between early behaviour and success in adulthood.

The youngsters were assessed by teachers, parents, observers and the participants themselves on a range of measures including "low frustration tolerance, lacks persistence in reaching goals, difficulty sticking with a task, overactive, acts before thinking, has difficulty waiting turn, restless, not conscientious".

They were then followed up later in life to see how they had turned out.

Prof Terrie Moffitt and Prof Avshalom Caspi, of Duke University, North Carolina, said the impulsivity and relative inability to think about the long-term gave them more difficulty with finances, like savings, home ownership and credit card debt.

They also were more likely to be single parents, have a criminal conviction record, and be dependent on alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and harder drugs.

[...]

Their health suffered with badly behaved youth most from breathing problems, gum disease, sexually transmitted disease, inflammation, overweight and high cholesterol and blood pressure.

Prof Moffitt said: "These adult outcomes were predictable across the entire spectrum of self-control scores, from low to high."

[Telegraph]