孩子的自制力决定未来成功与否

Niklas Capps gets ready for recess at Clara Barton Center for Children in Cabin John, Md., Feb. 11. Teachers at the school focus on promoting self-control.
2月11日，尼格拉斯·卡普斯准备在马里兰州卡班·约翰的克拉拉·巴顿儿童中心休假。学校的老师们正在致力于提高孩子们的自我控制能力。
 
Self-control keeps us from eating a whole bag of chips or from running up the credit card. A new study says that self-control makes the difference between getting a good job or going to jail — and we learn it in preschool.
自我控制能力防止我们吃掉一整袋的薯条或者把信用卡刷爆。一项新研究指出，我们在学龄前学习的自我控制能力决定了将来是得到一份好工作还是去坐牢。

"Children who had the greatest self-control in primary school and preschool ages were most likely to have fewer health problems when they reached their 30s," says Terrie Moffitt, a professor of psychology at Duke University and King's College London.
“在小学和学前年龄时就具有极佳自控能力的孩子们非常可能在三十多岁时的健康问题较少。”，杜克大学和伦敦大学国王学院的心理学教授泰利·莫菲特说。

Moffitt and a team of researchers studied a group of 1,000 people born in New Zealand in 1972 and 1973, tracking them from birth to age 32. The new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the best evidence yet on the payoff for learning self-discipline early on.
莫菲特和一组研究人员研究了1972年和1973年在新西兰出生的1000人，从出生跟踪他们直到三十二岁。发表在美国国家科学院学报上的这项新研究，是因早早学习自律而收益的最好证据。

The researchers define self-control as having skills like conscientiousness, self-discipline and perseverance, as well as being able to consider the consequences of actions in making decisions.
研究人员将自我控制能力定义为自我觉悟、自我约束和毅力，以及能够在决策中考虑行动的后果。

The children who struggled with self-control as preschoolers were three times as likely to have problems as young adults. They were more prone to have a criminal record; more likely to be poor or have financial problems; and they were more likely to be single parents.
在学龄前无法自控的儿童出问题的几率是成年后无法自控的人的三倍。他们更容易有犯罪纪录，贫穷或有经济困难的可能性更大，更有可能成为单亲家长。

This study doesn't prove that the lack of self-control in childhood caused these problems, but the large size of the study, and the fact that it followed one group of people over many years, makes a good case for an effect.
本研究并不能证明自童年缺乏自我控制能力就会造成这些问题，但这项研究规模之大以及多年来追踪一组人的事实，是一个效果很好的例子。
 
Teaching Control
教习自制

Economists and public health officials want to know whether teaching self-control could improve a population's physical and financial health and reduce crime. Three factors appear to be key to a person's success in life: intelligence, family's socioeconomic status and self-control. Moffitt's study found that self-control predicted adult success, even after accounting for the participants' differences in social status and IQ.
经济学家和公共卫生官员希望知道是否教习自我控制能提高人们物质和财政的健康并且减少犯罪。三个因素可能是成功的关键：智力、家庭的社会经济地位和自我控制能力。莫菲特的研究发现，即使参与者具有不同的社会地位和智商，自我控制能力预示了成年时的成功。

Cathie Morton, a teacher at the Clara Barton Center for Children, leads the kids in a clapping exercise to signal that it is time to shift gears and start cleaning up.

凯西·莫顿是克拉拉·巴顿儿童中心的老师，他以拍掌为信号，教孩子们改变节目并开始清理场地。
 
IQ and social status are hard to change. But Moffitt says there is evidence that self-control can be learned.
智商和社会地位很难改变。但莫菲特说，有证据表明，自我控制可以习得。

"Identical twins are not identical on self-control," she says. "That tells us that it is something they have learned, not something they have inherited."
“同卵双胞胎的自我控制能力并不一样，”她说，“这告诉我们，这是他们学到的东西，而不是遗传来的。”

Teaching self-control has become a big focus for early childhood education. At the Clara Barton Center for Children in Cabin John, Md., it starts with expecting a 4-year-old to hang up her coat without being asked.
教习自我控制已经成为幼儿教育的一大焦点。马里兰州卡班·约翰的克拉拉·巴顿儿童中心从教4岁的孩子自觉自动的挂起外套开始。

Director Linda Owen says the children are expected to be responsible for a series of actions when they arrive at school each morning, without help from Mom and Dad. The children sign in, put away their lunches, hang up their own clothes, wash their hands before they can play, and then choose activities in the classroom.
董事长琳达·欧文说，每天早晨到校后，孩子们应该不在父母的帮助下对自己的一系列行为负责。孩子们签到，收起午餐，挂上衣服，洗手，之后才可以玩耍，然后选择课堂活动。

"All those things help with self-management," Owen says.
“所有这些都有助于自我管理，”欧文说。