Title: Childhood self-control and adult health
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: Self-control enables people to delay gratification and control impulses. The power to avoid temptation represents a vital human capacity. A strong capacity for self-control is linked with many aspects of healthy living: avoiding high fat and sugar foods, engaging in exercise, and staying clear of addictive substances. These unhealthy behaviours are recognized as major determinants of mortality and morbidity in the UK and globally. In this project I seek to decipher whether self-control is at the root of many of the unfavourable health behaviours that burden health systems as well as the health problems that afflict many in society. Most existing evidence on the potential contribution of self-control to health comes from small non-representative samples examined in laboratory studies or through surveys with short periods of follow-up and which use self-reported outcomes. This has meant that it is currently difficult for researchers to know if self-control actually contributes to subsequent health behaviour and health outcomes outside of the laboratory, if this is true of the population rather than of a select few, and if objectively verifiable health-related outcomes are affected. In the proposed programme of research I aim to address squarely these major challenges. I will provide scientific evidence detailing whether and how individual differences in childhood self-control contribute to the emergence of patterns of health behaviour and health problems over the lifespan. Consistent with the ESRC's Delivery Plan's objective to foster the usage of existing data resources, I will capitalize on the existence of four large population-representative samples which track over 10,000 individuals for between 15 and 50 years with data recorded on multiple occasions from early life into adulthood. These incredible data resources include detailed measures of child temperament that have not yet been exploited to examine childhood self-control and its health effects but represent a clear opportunity to do so. Crucially, I have identified a set of questions which ostensibly gauge self-control in each of these studies and in this project will empirically test how these items correspond to well-validated self-control measures. Using the self-control measures derived from this process I will then identify how childhood self-control shapes the uptake, maintenance and decline of smoking, drinking, physical activity, and substance use from adolescence through to middle age. I will track how early life self-control links to later health outcomes (e.g. body mass index, biomarkers of inflammation and cardiovascular risk). Finally, I will implement a series of analyses to unpick the complex interrelationships between self-control, socioeconomic status, and the development of health. This project represents a unique departure from conventional approaches that have not taken an integrated approach to examine the health impact of self-control at multiple time points, in multiple datasets, over an extensive time horizon. I have the appropriate skillset to ensure this project is a success: pre-existing expertise working with large-scale datasets, biological data, and applying advanced longitudinal analyses to personality and health data. I request funding to provide protected time and assistance to: i) strengthen and develop important collaborations (e.g. with Prof. Roy Baumeister and Prof. Ian Deary), ii) undertake a detailed programme of skill development activities including training in advanced statistical methods and psychometric techniques, iii) complete and disseminate a programme of research which will provide a solid empirical platform on which existing ideas about the health impact of self-control will be formally tested, and iv) detail the implications of the proposed work for policies which aim to intervene to enhance self-control early in life or to address the impact of low levels of self-control in adulthood.


Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE