Personality and Individual Differences 59 (2014) 6570

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Personality and Individual Differences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid

Childhood self-control, adolescent behavior, and career success

Patrick D. Converse , Katrina A. Piccone, Michael C. Tocci
School of Psychology, Florida Institute of Technology, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Research indicates that dispositional self-control is an important predictor of a wide range of behaviors
Received 7 June 2013 and outcomes but little research has examined this characteristic in the context of career success. This
Received in revised form 1 November 2013 work adds to the limited ndings in this area and extends previous research by developing and examin-
Accepted 9 November 2013
ing a model of self-control and career success. Specically, drawing from the concepts of cumulative and
Available online 5 December 2013
interactional continuity (Caspi, Bem, & Elder, 1989) and the recently proposed distinction between start/
initiatory and stop/inhibitory self-control (e.g., de Ridder, de Boer, Lugtig, Bakker, & van Hooft, 2011), we
Keywords:
developed and tested a model of the pathways leading from childhood self-control to career outcomes
Self-control
Initiatory control
focusing on adolescent behavior that is positive (e.g., studying) versus negative (e.g., stealing), education,
Inhibitory control and job complexity. Results indicated that childhood self-control predicted positive and negative adoles-
Adolescent behavior cent behavior; this behavior predicted educational attainment; education predicted the complexity and
Career success income associated with ones job; job complexity predicted income and job satisfaction; and income pre-
Income dicted job satisfaction. These ndings add to research on self-control and career success, further demon-
Job satisfaction strating the relevance of self-control in this context and highlighting key links connecting these variables
involving factors related to start and stop control.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction behaviors and outcomes, this may represent a notable gap in

Self-controlinvolving effective regulation of thoughts, feel-
ings, and behaviorshas been extensively examined across a range
of contexts. Researchers investigating clinical, developmental, so-
cial, personality, criminology, and health issues (among others),
have developed substantial knowledge bases regarding the nature
and implications of self-control in these areas (e.g., see Baumeister
& Vohs, 2004; Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990). This broad and sus-
tained research attention stems in part from the notion that inef-
fective self-control is a major factor responsible for a range of
personal and social problems (e.g., Baumeister, Heatherton, & Tice,
1994) and conversely effective self-control is a key to success in life
(e.g., Baumeister, Leith, Muraven, & Bratslavsky, 1998). Consistent
with this idea, dispositional self-control has been linked to a
number of important outcomes including academic performance,
impulse control, psychological adjustment, and interpersonal
outcomes (e.g., Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004; Wolfe &
Johnson, 1995).
However, dispositional self-control has not received substantial
attention in work contexts, particularly in terms of career success.
Given the pervasive inuence of this characteristic on signicant
Corresponding author. Address: School of Psychology, Florida Institute of
Technology, 150 W. University Blvd., Melbourne, FL 32901-6975, United States.
Tel.: +1 (321) 674 8104.
E-mail address: pconvers@t.edu (P.D. Converse).
research on the factors inuencing career-related outcomes. The
purpose of the present study was to extend the limited research
on this issue. More specically, this research draws from two the-
oretical perspectivesinvolving the concepts of cumulative and
interactional continuity (Caspi, Bem, & Elder, 1989) and the recent
notion of a distinction between two aspects of self-control (stop/
inhibitory and start/initiatory; de Boer, van Hooft, & Bakker,
2011; de Ridder, de Boer, Lugtig, Bakker, & van Hooft, 2011)to de-
velop and test a model of the pathways leading from self-control to
career outcomes.
1.1. Dening self-control and career success
Self-control has been dened as the exertion of control over
the self by the self (Muraven & Baumeister, 2000, p. 247). This
concept thus entails internally focused active control tendencies
involving regulation of thoughts, feelings, or behaviors. Disposi-
tional self-control has connections to other prominent personality
traits, including the Big Five, but evidence indicates this character-
istic is reasonably distinct. There is, for example, a clear link be-
tween self-control and conscientiousness but these
characteristics appear to overlap only partially (e.g., Tangney
et al., 2004, reported a correlation of .54 between self-control
and conscientiousness).
Career success has been conceptualized in a variety of ways
but is often dened as the positive psychological or work-related

0191-8869/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.11.007
66 P.D. Converse et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 59 (2014) 6570
outcomes accumulated as a result of ones work experiences
(e.g., Judge, Cable, Boudreau, & Bretz, 1995; Ng, Eby, Sorensen, &
Feldman, 2005). Career-related success is typically characterized
as involving two primary components: extrinsic or objective and
intrinsic or subjective (see Ng et al., 2005). Extrinsic career success
involves observable outcomes such as salary, whereas intrinsic
career success involves subjective outcomes such as satisfaction.
Given previous evidence suggesting that these two types of
outcomes are relatively independent (Ng et al., 2005), the current
study examined both extrinsic and intrinsic outcomes, focusing
on income and job satisfaction.
1.2. Linking self-control and career success
As noted, although a large number of studies have demon-
strated connections between self-control and a variety of impor-
tant behaviors and outcomes, research on this characteristic in
the career context has been quite limited. For instance, in a recent
meta-analysis, de Ridder, Lensvelt-Mulders, Finkenauer, Stok, and
Baumeister (2012) reviewed evidence regarding the relationship
between trait self-control and behaviors across a range of domains.
These researchers reported k (number of tests) of only 5 for the do-
main school and work performance. Furthermore, although de
Ridder et al. did not provide detailed information regarding the
specic behaviors examined in the school and work performance
domain, it may be that these were largely school- or task-related,
rather than work- or career-related, as these authors listed GPA,
homework hours, and persistence at solving tasks as examples of
behaviors in this domain. There have been a few studies examining
relationships between self-control variables and unemployment
(e.g., Kokko, Pulkkinen, & Puustinen, 2000) and career orienta-
tion (involving occupational status, education, present work situ-
ation, and career stability; Pulkkinen, Ohranen, & Tolvanen, 1999),
but research investigating specic career success outcomes in em-
ployed individuals has been limited.
Two recent exceptions are studies by Moftt et al. (2011) and
Converse, Pathak, DePaul-Haddock, Gotlib, and Merbedone
(2012). Moftt et al. (2011) demonstrated that childhood self-con-
trol (beginning at age 3) predicted negative adolescent behaviors
(from age 13 to 21; e.g., smoking and dropping out of school),
which, in turn, predicted income later in life (at age 32). Similarly,
Converse et al. (2012) found that childhood self-control related to
later income and occupational prestige through educational attain-
ment and later career satisfaction through occupational opportu-
nity for achievement. These studies provide valuable initial
evidence of the relevance of self-control in predicting career-re-
lated outcomes. However, information regarding the specic path-
ways linking self-control to these outcomes is somewhat limited
and, in particular, the above studies did not draw from the recent
perspective suggesting that there are two aspects of self-control
(start and stop). Thus, this work draws from Caspi and colleagues
(1989) ideas regarding cumulative and interactional continuity and
the notions of start and stop self-control to develop and test a mod-
el involving self-control measured in childhood, positive and neg-
ative behaviors (related to start and stop control) in adolescence,
and career-related outcomes in adulthood (see Fig. 1). Note that
these perspectives provided the stimulus and conceptual back-
ground for the current research but we are not directly testing
these theories.
1.2.1. Cumulative and interactional continuity
The model developed in the present research is developmental
in that it involves pathways leading from self-control relatively
early in life to career outcomes experienced in adulthood. To devel-
op this model, we drew from Caspi and colleagues (e.g., Caspi, Rob-
erts, & Shiner, 2005; Caspi et al., 1989) ideas regarding continuities
and consequences of interactional styles over time. Caspi et al.
(1989) proposed two general processes involving person-environ-
ment interactions across time. First, cumulative continuity in-
volves the individual selecting, creating, and shaping his/her
environments based partially on dispositional qualities, and these
environments then sustaining those dispositions. An extraverted
individual, for example, may often select environments involving
social interaction; these environments may then help to maintain
this individuals extraverted tendencies. Over long periods of time,
this type of process may lead to not only stable dispositions, but
also distinct life paths. Second, interactional continuity involves
transactions between the individual and the environment: the
individual acts, the environment reacts, and the individual re-
sponds. Caspi et al. (1989) proposed that this process can also have
implications for life paths and dispositional continuity in several
ways including through reciprocal reinforcement, self-conrming
expectations, and selective attention to information that conrms
ones self-concept.
In developing these ideas, Caspi and colleagues emphasized
continuity with respect to certain interactional styles, but these
processes also appear to be quite relevant to the current context
involving pathways leading to career outcomes. More specically,
the concepts of cumulative and interactional continuity suggest
that individual differences in an inuential characteristic such as
self-control present relatively early in development can produce
different life paths, resulting in different career outcomes. For in-
stance, self-control may inuence the types of environments indi-
viduals select, create, and shape (e.g., those higher in self-control
may choose situations based on longer term implications rather
than shorter term rewards). Similarly, this trait may also affect
individuals reciprocal interactions with the environment (e.g.,
those higher in self-control may engage in more long-term desir-
able behaviors that are then reinforced by the environment includ-
ing parents and teachers). As these processes unfold over time,
different life paths may be created, leading to differing career out-
comes. Fig. 1 presents the current model based on this perspective
and the following sections discuss the specic links.
1.2.2. Start and stop control
Effectively exercising self-control involves both inhibiting
undesirable behaviors and initiating desirable behaviors (Baumei-
ster, Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998; de Ridder et al., 2011).
Based on this notion, recent research by de Boer et al. (2011) and
de Ridder et al. (2011) suggests two key dimensions of self-control:
start (or initiatory) and stop (or inhibitory). The start dimension of
self-control is expected to facilitate engaging in positive behaviors,
such as goal-directed activities, that may not be desirable in the
short-term but are likely to benet individuals in the long-term.
Alternatively, the stop dimension of self-control is expected to in-
hibit engaging in negative behaviors, such as illicit or harmful
activities, that may be desirable in the short-term but can have
negative consequences in the long-term. Based on this research,
it is likely that dispositional self-control predicts both positive
and negative behaviors. Indeed, previous research has demon-
strated that self-control is positively related to positive behaviors,
such as time spent studying, and negatively related to negative
behaviors, such as alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking
(de Boer et al., 2011; de Ridder et al., 2011). This has also been sup-
ported by a recent meta-analysis that found self-control predicts
both desirable and undesirable behaviors (de Ridder et al., 2012).
Based on the concepts of cumulative and interactional continuity,
these relationships are expected to hold over time, from childhood
to adolescence. For example, children higher in self-control may be
more likely to choose situations and behaviors that are seen as
more long-term desirable (e.g., following rules). This may then be
rewarded by parents and teachers, reinforcing those tendencies
 P.D. Converse et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 59 (2014) 6570
Positive Behaviors
2.25**(.13)
2.25**(.13)
.04**(.10)
.04**(.10)
Self-Control
-.05**(-.10)
-.05**(-.10) -3.10**(-.23)
-3.10**(-.23)
Negative Behaviors
Fig. 1. Model and path analysis results. Unstandardized coefcients are shown rst, with standardized coefcients in parentheses.
over time such that they are sustained into adolescence, manifest-
ing in more positive behaviors and fewer negative behaviors (in
terms of long-term desirability).
Hypothesis 1. Childhood self-control (a) positively relates to
positive adolescent behavior and (b) negatively relates to negative
adolescent behavior.
1.2.3. Positive and negative behavior and education
These behaviors are likely to then have implications for educa-
tional attainment. First, success in school appears to require both
initiating these long-term desirable behaviors (e.g., studying) and
inhibiting these long-term undesirable behaviors (e.g., drinking/
drug use). Thus, engaging in more positive behaviors and fewer
negative behaviors (with respect to long-term goals) is likely to
lead to more academic success. Clearly, this greater academic per-
formance is then likely to be associated with greater ability to con-
tinue ones education (e.g., better grades increase the chances of
admission to undergraduate institutions and graduate programs).
Second, these behaviors may also inuence motivation to continue
with school. The idea of interactional continuity suggests how this
can occur. If, for example, an adolescent decides to do drugs or skip
class, the environment is likely to react negatively (e.g., criticism
from teachers or parents). This change in environment may then
have negative effects on the students subsequent motivation
(e.g., trying less in school). In contrast, if an adolescent decides to
avoid drugs and attend class regularly, the environment is likely
to react positively; this may then have positive effects on subse-
quent motivation. Thus, these positive and negative behaviors
likely inuence both the ability and motivation to continue with
school, which should inuence educational attainment. Consistent
with this, there has been ample research showing how positive
behaviors can facilitate educational attainment (e.g., Lleras, 2008;
Staff & Mortimer, 2007) and how negative behaviors can deter edu-
cational attainment (e.g., Moftt, Caspi, Harrington, & Milne, 2002).
Hypothesis 2. Positive adolescent behavior positively relates to
educational attainment.
Hypothesis 3. Negative adolescent behavior negatively relates to
educational attainment.
1.2.4. Education, job complexity, income, and satisfaction
Indicators of career success, including income and job satisfac-
tion, are likely to be predicted by education and job complexity.
67
Income
.01**(.09)
.01**(.09)
.05**(.33)
.05**(.33)
.69**(.12)
.69**(.12)
Education Job Complexity
.18**(.39)
.18**(.39)
.08**(.09)
.08**(.09)
Job Satisfaction
p < .01.
First, educational achievement may be an important factor inu-
encing career success. According to a human capital perspective,
higher education levels signal that individuals have desirable attri-
butes, such as intelligence and self-motivation (Ng et al., 2005).
Organizations may attempt to gain and retain individuals with
these desirable attributes by offering higher wages and more
workplace opportunities. Congruent with these expectations, edu-
cation level has been found to relate to salary (Ng et al., 2005).
Additionally, individuals with higher education levels are likely
to be better prepared for complex jobs, which involve intellectual
demands (Oswald, Campbell, McCloy, Rivkin, & Lewis, 1999).
Hypothesis 4. Education positively relates to (a) job complexity
and (b) income.
Second, job complexity may also inuence career outcomes.
Highly complex jobs involve lack of routine repetitive work in fa-
vor of work involving high intellectual demands and/or frequent
changes in task-related requirementsoften involving the synthe-
sis or interpretation of complex data (Oswald et al., 1999, p. 3).
Put differently, these jobs involve a high degree of difculty, which
is likely to relate to higher salaries. Indeed, previous research has
illustrated a job complexity-income relationship (Judge, Klinger,
& Simon, 2010). Furthermore, the job characteristics model sug-
gests that complex jobs predict positive outcomes such as mean-
ingfulness of work, responsibility for outcomes, and knowledge
of results (Hackman & Oldham, 1980), which positively impact
job satisfaction (Judge, Bono, & Locke, 2000). Finally, income is ex-
pected to relate to job satisfaction, as higher income is associated
with self and others perceptions of success (Ng et al., 2005). In-
deed, previous research has supported this income-satisfaction
relationship (see Ng et al., 2005).
Hypothesis 5. Job complexity positively relates to (a) income and
(b) job satisfaction.
Hypothesis 6. Income positively relates to job satisfaction.
2. Method
2.1. Participants
Data for this study came from the US Department of Labor
sponsored National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79)
Children and Young Adults database. The NLSY79 Children and
Young Adults database was started in 1986 and focuses on the
68 P.D. Converse et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 59 (2014) 6570

children of the female participants from the original 1979 study.
Individuals in this database have been assessed every two years
since 1986 (the most recent data available are from 2010). This
database includes information provided by the mothers about
the children and self-reports from children aged 10 and older.
In the current study, participants were 4932 individuals who
had scores on at least two of the focal variables and were at least
20 years of age (in 2010). Note, however, that sample size varied
across variables (see Table 1). The sample was 50% female; 56%
Black or Hispanic, 44% Non-Black/Non-Hispanic; and the mean
approximate age as of 2010 was 25.64 (SD = 3.63).
2.2. Procedures and measures
Self-control was measured with 21 items (a = .87) from the
Behavior Problems Index (BPI; see Zill, 1990). These items have
been included in various measures of self-control (e.g., Chapple,
2005; McGloin, Pratt, & Maahs, 2004; Nofziger, 2008; Raffaelli,
Crockett, & Shen, 2005) and signicantly predicted theoretically re-
lated constructs such as peer relationships and delinquency. Addi-
tionally, several of these items (e.g., He/She has difculty
concentrating, cannot pay attention for long; He/She is impulsive,
or acts without thinking) are very similar to those included in pre-
vious measures of start and stop self-control that, consistent with
expectations, signicantly predicted engagement in positive and
negative behaviors (de Boer et al., 2011; de Ridder et al., 2011).
Mothers rated their children on these items in 1988. Responses
were based on a three-point scale ranging from 1 (often true) to 3
(not true). Lower scores indicated lower self-control.
Positive and negative behaviors were measured in 1996. Based
on items used in previous research (de Boer et al., 2011; de Ridder
et al., 2011), negative adolescent behavior was measured with 11
items focusing on behaviors that may be more attractive in the
short-term but less desirable in the long-term (involving lying,
stealing, damaging property, drinking, using drugs, smoking, skip-
ping school, and staying out without permission), and positive ado-
lescent behavior was measured with seven items focusing on
behaviors that may be less attractive in the short-term but more
desirable in the long-term (involving spending time on homework
during school, after school, or during the summer, belonging to
clubs/teams/activities, and working for pay). A log transformation
was used for both of these variables due to skew.
Educational attainment was measured as the highest grade
completed as of 2010, specied as rst grade (coded 1) through
eighth year of college or more (coded 20). Census codes for partic-
ipants current or most recent occupations in 2010 were also avail-
able. The Occupational Information Network (ONET) was used to
obtain the level of complexity associated with each of those
occupations. More specically, a crosswalk between the Census
codes and ONET-SOC codes was used to identify corresponding
ONET occupations. Job complexity was then measured with the
ONET variable Job Zone, which represents the amount of educa-
tion, experience, and training required to perform the job and
ranges from 1 (little or no preparation needed) to 5 (extensive
preparation needed). Job Zones were developed using Specic
Vocational Preparation from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles,
and evidence supports the validity of this index (see Oswald et al.,
1999). Using Job Zone as an indicator of job complexity is consis-
tent with previous research (e.g., Le et al., 2011). Note that in the
crosswalk more than one ONET occupation was linked to a given
Census occupation in several cases. In those cases, average Job
Zone scores across the multiple ONET occupations were used.
Income was measured as hourly rate of pay assessed in 2010 for
the respondents current or most recent job (a log transformation
was used for this variable). Job satisfaction was measured with
one item in 2010 that assessed how the individual felt about his/
her current or most recent job, with responses ranging from 1 (like
it very much) to 4 (dislike it very much). Previous research has sup-
ported the use of single-item measures of job satisfaction (Wanous,
Reichers, & Hudy, 1997). Scores were recoded so that lower values
indicated lower satisfaction.
3. Results
Table 1 presents descriptive statistics and correlations. To
examine the hypotheses, a path analysis was conducted using
Amos. The model tested is that shown in Fig. 1 with two additions:
age, race (Hispanic or Black vs. Non-Hispanic, Non-Black), gender,
and conscientiousness (measured in 2010 using the Ten-Item Per-
sonality Inventory; Gosling, Rentfrow, & Swann, 2003) were in-
cluded as predictors of all endogenous variables, and
relationships between all exogenous variables were included.
Model t indices indicated reasonably good t: v2(12) = 68.37,
p < .01; NFI = .973; CFI = .977; RMSEA = .031. The model v2 was sig-
nicant but this is affected by sample size and the current sample
is relatively large; the other index values appear to indicate good
t (e.g., see Kline, 2005). We also examined a model in which the
control variables (age, race, gender, and conscientiousness) were
removed. Model t indices indicated somewhat poorer but still
reasonable t: v2(12) = 116.63, p < .01; NFI = .913; CFI = .920;
RMSEA = .042.
As shown in Fig. 1, all hypotheses were supported. Similar re-
sults were obtained for the model excluding the control variables
in that all of the coefcients were signicant, the same sign, and
similar in magnitude. In addition, Table 2 shows proportion of var-
iance accounted for in the endogenous variables ranged from .04 to

Table 1
Descriptive statistics and correlations.

N M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 Self-control 2182 2.52 0.31
2 Positive behavior 3382 0.25 0.12 .10**
3 Negative behavior 1741 0.13 0.13 .10** .03
4 Education 4682 12.85 2.07 .17** .14** .21**
5 Job complexity 4018 2.31 0.94 .10** .12** .08** .40**
6 Income 1672 3.00 0.14 .09* .20** .11* .20** .37**
7 Job satisfaction 4174 3.17 0.84 .02 .01 .01 .02 .14** .16**
8 Age 4932 25.64 3.63 .02 .32** .23** .05** .21** .33** .06**
9 Race 4932 0.44 0.50 .02 .03 .08** .16** .05** .10** .04** .10**
10 Gender 4932 0.50 0.50 .10** .04* .05* .12** .04** .02 .03* .01 .01
11 Conscientiousness 4661 5.80 1.15 .05* .05** .00 .06** .08** .03 .06** .05** .09** .07**

Note: Race coded 0 = Black or Hispanic, 1 = Non-Black/Non-Hispanic. Gender coded 0 = male, 1 = female.
*
p < .05.
**
p < .01.
 P.D. Converse et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 59 (2014) 6570
Table 2
Squared multiple correlations for endogenous variables.
Variable Including control Excluding control
variables variables
Negative behaviors .31 .01
Positive behaviors .20 .02
Education .10 .06
Job complexity .20 .16
Income .28 .17
Job satisfaction .04 .03
Note: Control variables were age, race, gender, and conscientiousness.
.31 for the model including the control variables and .01 to .17 for
the model excluding the control variables. Thus, the predicted rela-
tionships were found and in several cases the predictors accounted
for a reasonable amount of variance in the outcomes. Finally,
similar results were also obtained when no variable transforma-
tions were used.
4. Discussion
Research suggests that self-control predicts a variety of notable
behaviors and outcomes. Little prior work, however, has examined
self-control in the context of career success. The goal of this study
was to add to the limited work in this area, focusing on the path-
ways leading to career outcomes.
4.1. Findings and implications
Results supported the role of self-control and positive and neg-
ative behaviors in predicting career-related outcomes. Specically,
dispositional self-control measured during childhood predicted
both positive and negative adolescent behaviors. These behaviors
in turn differentially predicted educational attainment, where indi-
viduals engaging in positive behavior during adolescence were
more likely to achieve higher levels of education and individuals
engaging in negative behavior during adolescence were less likely
to achieve higher levels of education. Educational attainment then
predicted job complexity and both education and job complexity
were directly related to income. Finally, consistent with the model,
both job complexity and income predicted job satisfaction.
These ndings build on prior research in several ways. As men-
tioned, one contribution of this study is that it expands upon pre-
vious research by examining the role of dispositional self-control in
the context of career success and exploring the specic pathways
that link self-control to career-related factors. Furthermore, previ-
ous research has mainly focused on self-control predicting positive
or negative behaviors and few studies have provided evidence that
self-control has similar effects on both (de Ridder et al., 2012). This
study demonstrated empirical links to both positive and negative
behaviors as well as implications of these behaviors.
4.2. Limitations and future directions
Future research might address some of the limitations of this
study. First, based on the squared multiple correlations, it is clear
that other explanatory factors are involved and future research
could explore these factors (e.g., more integrated models incorpo-
rating the current predictors along with other key explanatory fac-
tors could be examined). For example, the current research focused
on individual factors but social environmental factors may also be
inuential in this context. Future studies might incorporate both
types of factors to examine their roles in predicting career-related
outcomes. Second, several of the measures were somewhat limited
69
(e.g., the types of adolescent behaviors investigated) due to the use
of an existing database. This is a tradeoff often associated with the
use of this type of database, where the dataset allows for examina-
tion of pathways over time but limits what measures can be used.
Future research might conrm and build on the current study with
cross-sectional designs involving more extensive measures or
other existing databases involving different measurement
strengths and weaknesses. Third, this study did not examine start
and stop self-control in the form of two separate measures also be-
cause of limitations involved in using an existing database. Future
research may benet from the development and implementation
of start and stop measures of self-control in predicting career-
related outcomes. Finally, missing data might be an issue in this
study as there is some potential for nonrandom missing data. Addi-
tional studies involving different databases or other approaches to
dealing with missing data may be useful.
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