Daly, Michael and Delaney, Liam and Egan, Mark and Baumeister, Roy F.
(2015)
Childhood Self-Control and Unemployment Throughout the Life Span.
Psychological Science, 26 (6).
pp. 709-723.
ISSN 0956-7976
Abstract
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.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
personality; self-control; unemployment; economic recession; human capital; open data; open materials; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering > Psychology |
| Item ID: |
15566 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615569001 |
| Depositing User: |
Michael Daly
|
| Date Deposited: |
24 Feb 2022 11:29 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Psychological Science |
| Publisher: |
SAGE Publications |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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