News, Future criminals could be identified as toddlers. (babies, average, parents)

[JD59]

Tantrums and lack of self control in toddlers is a sign they may grow up to be drugs addicts and criminals, claims research.

Badly behaved children as young as three are also the most prone to financial and health problems in adulthood.

Future criminals could be identified as toddlers - Telegraph

[Caligula1]

This is rubbish, What toddler does not behave badly or throw tantrums?
This is where the Parent steps in and corrects those actions..

[Charles22]

This isn't new. A lot of common criminals are really just acting like big babies.

[littleelvis]

Most of these studies are garbage and waste of taxpayer dollars. You can do a study on anything and come up with some ridiculous conclusion.

[Ebrehm]

Originally Posted by John1960

Tantrums and lack of self control in toddlers is a sign they may grow up to be drugs addicts and criminals, claims research.

Badly behaved children as young as three are also the most prone to financial and health problems in adulthood.

Future criminals could be identified as toddlers - Telegraph

Doesn't every child had a tantrum at least once or twice at that age?

[elamigo]

Originally Posted by John1960

Tantrums and lack of self control in toddlers is a sign they may grow up to be drugs addicts and criminals, claims research.

Badly behaved children as young as three are also the most prone to financial and health problems in adulthood.

Future criminals could be identified as toddlers - Telegraph

I hope this does not turn into labely young kids before they even have a chance in life, take care.

[eastwesteastagain]

I had the same reaction as other posters at first, i.e., don't pathologize normal toddler behaviors!!

Moffit and Caspi are actually highly respected developmental psychopathology researchers (I worked in this field for awhile in grad school). I think the article may not be fully explaining the study and may be simplifying/overstating the relationship. My guess is that they looked at toddlers whose impulse control was way below average compared to other toddlers, rather than just talking about the normative level of impulsivity a little one has...I'm going to try to find the primary source and will link if I can.

ETA:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/20...0-03f9b382e792
Disclaimer - it's a dense read if you're not familiar with social science stats

My suspicion was right - they assessed impulsivity through a number of behavioral markers and reports from scientific observers, teachers, and parents at 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 years old and pooled that data and followed the same kids up at age 32. The level of impulsivity measured (low impulse control) refers to more than just the normal level of poor impulse control a toddler has - it's talking about toddlers who are way more impulsive than their peers. So I think the Telegraph article reporting on the results is a tad misleading or at least not as detailed as it needs to be. Also, not sure if Telegraph mentioned that some toddlers who were assessed as highly impulsive at age 3 and were taught increased self-control by age 11 ended up with "good" adult outcomes. Hope that helps a bit?

[jtur88]

I believe there is a great deal to be said for this. Look up "Sociopath" in Wiki. People, for the most part, are born that way, maybe about 3% of the male population. I wouldn't think it would be very hard to spot a budding sociopath in a group of toddlers.

However, if we define "criminal" as a person who has been convicted of a felony, of course it becomes more problematic to predict who is going to be someday arrested and serve hard time in the big house.

[purehuman]

Originally Posted by littleelvis

Most of these studies are garbage and waste of taxpayer dollars. You can do a study on anything and come up with some ridiculous conclusion.

I agree, but don't waste that paper, use it to start the fire in the morning.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by eastwesteastagain

Also, not sure if Telegraph mentioned that some toddlers who were assessed as highly impulsive at age 3 and were taught increased self-control by age 11 ended up with "good" adult outcomes. Hope that helps a bit?

That's an important piece of information to leave out. Glad to hear the study concluded what we already knew: good parenting can make a positive difference.