Childhood self-control predicts smoking throughout life: Evidence from 21,000 cohort study participants.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Low self-control has been linked with smoking, yet it remains unclear whether childhood self-control underlies the emergence of lifetime smoking patterns. We examined the contribution of childhood self-control to early smoking initiation and smoking across adulthood.

Methods

21,132 participants were drawn from 2 nationally representative cohort studies; the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS) and the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS). Child self-control was teacher-rated at age 10 in the BCS and at ages 7 and 11 in the NCDS. Participants reported their smoking status and number of cigarettes smoked per day at 5 time-points in the BCS (ages 26-42) and 6 time-points in the NCDS (ages 23-55). Both studies controlled for socioeconomic background, cognitive abili

SUBMITTER: Daly M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5067157 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature