Predicting mid-life capital formation with pre-school delay of gratification and life-course measures of self-regulation.

ABSTRACT: How well do pre-school delay of gratification and life-course measures of self-regulation predict mid-life capital formation? We surveyed 113 participants of the 1967-1973 Bing pre-school studies on delay of gratification when they were in their late 40's. They reported 11 mid-life capital formation outcomes, including net worth, permanent income, absence of high-interest debt, forward-looking behaviors, and educational attainment. To address multiple hypothesis testing and our small sample, we pre-registered an analysis plan of well-powered tests. As predicted, a newly constructed and pre-registered measure derived from preschool delay of gratification does not predict the 11 capital formation variables (i.e., the sign-adjusted average correlation was 0.02). A pre-registered composite sel

SUBMITTER: Benjamin DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7792663 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature