Early years cast the personality die

According to an article in the August issue of the "Journal of Personality," a child's early behavior predicts later personality. This may not be any great revelation to most parents watching their children grow up, but some good research can always help as put these issues into perspective. As I think about this matter, it makes me wonder what children learn at that age that shapes their leadership abilities as adults.

A child's behavior is a good predictor of what he or she will be like as an adult, according to a team of scientists led by Avshalom Caspi and Terrie E. Moffitt, both of whom are professors of psychology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London.

The team observed 1,000 3-year-old children and assessed each one's behavior. Ninety-six percent of the study participants were also examined as adults, through self-reports and reports from those who know them well. The team says that the study participants' personalities as adults are strongly linked to their behavior as children.

"These longitudinal data provide the longest and strongest evidence to date that children's early-emerging behavioral styles can foretell their characteristic behaviors, thoughts, and feelings as adults, pointing to the foundations of the human personality in the early years of life," the scholars write.

Armed with that information, the team says, parents, teachers, and behavioral scientists can design better and earlier interventions for improving children's development.