Early-Childhood Conduct Problems Predict Economic and Political Discontent in Adulthood: Evidence From Two Large, Longitudinal UK Cohorts
利用英国两个大型纵向队列数据，发现5-7岁时的行为问题能预测30-33岁时的经济和政治不满，且部分通过教育程度和社会阶层中介。
Longstanding interest has been directed toward the etiology of sociopolitical attitudes. Personality traits have been posited as antecedents; however, most work addressing such links has been limited to cross-sectional study designs. The current study used data from two large (both Ns > 8,700), longitudinal cohorts of individuals from the United Kingdom who were parent-assessed on a measure of temperament (assessing anxiety, conduct problems, and hyperactivity) at age 5 or 7 years and on a range of sociopolitical attitudes at age 30 or 33 years. In both cohorts, higher levels of childhood conduct problems predicted higher levels of economic and political discontent in adulthood. These associations were still evident when controlling for sex, childhood intelligence, and parental social class. In both cohorts, this pathway was partially mediated by educational attainment and achieved social class. These findings are consistent with the perspective that early-life temperament gives rise to adult political sentiment.