A boy cries on the varsity playground. A brand new British study has found that some behaviors considered problematic in childhood can result in higher earnings later in life.
Juanmonino | E+ | Getty Images
A brand new study suggests that school bullies are more likely to receive higher salaries, disproving the standard wisdom that they’ll pay them back later in life.
Tests published earlier this month, the UK’s Institute of Economic and Social Research found that children who exhibited certain varieties of problem behavior in school, including throwing tantrums, teasing or bullying others, achieved higher earnings in their 40s.
Children with “behavior problems” in school also reported greater job satisfaction.
Meanwhile, children who had difficulty focusing and establishing relationships with classmates performed worse on the labor market and had less satisfaction with each work and life.
Failure to finish tasks and emotional problems akin to anxiety have also been linked to poorer labor market outcomes.
The study used data from the 1970 British Cohort Study to check a big selection of behaviors and skills reported by teachers at ages 10 and 16 with educational attainment, earnings, working hours and occupation as much as age 46.
It has been found that social and emotional skills identified in school-age children can help predict various facets of later life. The study took into consideration socioeconomic details akin to family income, parental employment and academic status.
According to the authors, the outcomes suggest a must reconsider the best way schools discipline children.
“It is possible that what is often described as aggressive behavior is an adaptive response to a competitive environment,” they are saying.
“Instead of using a punitive approach, there could be a greater focus on understanding the causes of disruptive behavior, and teachers could be trained to identify strategies to help children channel these tendencies in ways that are better suited to the classroom.”
