VOA标准英语2011-Child's Self Control Predicts Future Heal

From a very early age, some children exhibit better self-control than others. Now, a new study has tracked how low self control can predict poor health, money troubles and even a criminal record in their adult years.

The study began with 1,000 children in New Zealand. Researchers followed them for decades. They observed the level of self-control the youngsters displayed. Parents, teachers, even the kids themselves, scored the youngsters on measures like "acting¹ before thinking" and "persistence² in reaching goals."

The children of the study are now adults in their thirties. Terrie Moffitt of Duke University found that kids with self-control issues tended to grow up to become adults with a far more troubling set of issues to deal with.

"The children who had the lowest self-control when they were age three to 10, early years, later on had the most health problems in their thirties," Moffitt said, "and they had the worst financial situation. They were more likely to have a criminal record and to be raising a child as a single parent on a very low income."

Moffitt explained that self-control problems were widely observed, and weren't just a feature of a small group of misbehaving kids.

"Even the children who had above-average self-control as pre-schoolers, could have benefited from more self-control training. They could have improved their financial situation and their physical and mental health situation 30 years later."

So, children with minor³ self-control problems were likely as adults to have minor health problems, and so on.

Moffitt said it's still unclear why some children have better self-control than others, though other researchers have found that it's mostly a learned behavior, with relatively⁴ little genetic⁵ influence. But good self-control can run in families because children with good self-control are more likely to grow up to be healthy and prosperous parents.

"Whereas some of the low-self-control study members are more likely to be single parents with a very low income and the parent is in poor health and likely to be a heavy substance abuser," said Moffitt. "So that's not a good atmosphere for a child. So it looks as though self-control is something that in one generation can disadvantage the next generation."

But the good news, according to Moffitt, is that self-control can be taught by parents, and through school curricula that have been shown to be effective.

1 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

2 persistence   

n.坚持，持续，存留

参考例句：

• The persistence of a cough in his daughter puzzled him.他女儿持续的咳嗽把他难住了。
• He achieved success through dogged persistence.他靠着坚持不懈取得了成功。

3 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

4 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

5 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。