Abstract
Childhood self-control has been found to be an important predictor of many life outcomes during adulthood. This thesis is based on comparative data from the study members in the Next Generation Study and their parents in the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (also known as the Dunedin Study). This thesis reviewed in detail a wide range of literature from epidemiology, neuroscience, life course research, psychology and health behaviours. In the final conceptual models, the patterns of odds ratios showed that children of those with very low childhood self-control had higher odds of engaging in substance use (tobacco, cannabis, alcohol) during adolescence. In these final conceptual models, the children of those with both high and medium levels of childhood self-control seemed to have some intergenerational benefits with smaller odds of using tobacco, cannabis and alcohol during their adolescence in comparison to their peers who had parents with lower levels of childhood self-control.
However, there was a lack of consistent evidence to suggest parental childhood self-control to be statistically associated with children’s health behaviours in the final conceptual models, which adjusted for covariates. There was statistically significant evidence that parental childhood self-control was positively linearly associated with adolescent children’s tobacco usage behaviours and high levels of engagement in physical activity at age 15. However, there was statistically insufficient evidence to conclude that parental childhood self-control was associated with adolescent children’s alcohol and cannabis usage at age 15. Based on this statistical evidence, it is difficult to conclude that the childhood self-control of one generation can consistently predict all health behaviours of the subsequent generation.