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Scientists Tracked 1,000 Kids for 40 Years. This Was the №1 Predictor of Financial Success
If you wanted to figure out what really matters for raising happy, successful kids, you’d need to randomly select a bunch of babies from a broad spectrum of backgrounds. Then you’d need to follow them for decades. Only after measuring a multitude of factors about their personalities, families, schools, and neighborhoods could you tease out what mattered and what didn’t.
That sounds like a tall ask. But thanks to a team of dedicated psychologists who have been following and intimately recording the lives of more than 1,000 kids from the New Zealand town of Dunedin since 1972, we actually have such a study.
The scientists now have more than 40 years of data. What has it all revealed about how to raise well-adjusted, financially successful kids?
What 40 years of data says about raising successful kids
More than 1,000 scientific papers worth of insight, actually, as this deep-dive article from Science into the history of “one of the more comprehensive and probing investigations of human development ever conducted” makes clear.
Analyses of the Dunedin data have found that most troublemakers grow out of juvenile delinquency, that mental health problems are more common than previously believed, and that early puberty is particularly stressful for girls.
It’s a grab bag of fascinating results, but which is the most useful for parents hoping to give their kids the best shot at a good life? Perhaps the incredible importance of building kids’ emotional intelligence for later-in-life success.
The best predictor of kids’ success? Emotional intelligence
Parents often stress about their kids’ academic performance, worth ethic, and behavior toward others. Those things are clearly important. But according to the Dunedin study, none of them is the best predictor of whether a particular child will grow up to lead a satisfying, financially stable life. Neither is the wealth, education, or socioeconomic status of the parents.
What seems to matter most is whether kids understand their emotions and manage their…
