Life of crime predictable at age of 3, experts say

Children as young as three can show by their behaviour if they are likely to grow into adults beset by problems such as ill-health, debt, drug addiction and criminality, say researchers.

A long-term study of more than 1,000 children in New Zealand found those displaying early signs of impulsiveness and low self-control were most at risk of running into trouble decades later.

The children were psychologically assessed between the ages of three and five. Researchers looked at factors such as frustration tolerance, restlessness, impulsivity, impatience and the ability to stick with tasks.

Children who scored poorly appeared to be marked out for a difficult life. As teenagers, they were more likely to take up smoking, have unplanned pregnancies and drop out of school.

At the age of 32, they had an increased chance of suffering from a range of health problems, including being overweight, having high cholesterol and blood pressure, and sexually transmitted diseases.

They were also more likely to get into financial difficulties and debt, become dependent on alcohol, tobacco or illegal drugs, to be single parents, or to have a criminal record.

A "gradient" effect was seen, with the frequency of problems escalating as childhood self-control scores fell.

The findings from an international team of psychologists are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

US expert Professor Terrie Moffitt, from Duke University, Durham, South Carolina, and colleagues wrote: "Following a cohort of 1,000 children from birth to the age of 32, we show that childhood self-control predicts physical health, substance dependence, personal finances and criminal offending.

"Effects of children's self-control could be disentangled from their intelligence and social class as well as from mistakes they made as adolescents."