Children's educational success can be boosted by early self-regulation: Study

Teaching children how to manage their attention and impulses in primary school has a positive long-term effect on their later educational success, suggests the findings of a study by the universities of Zurich and Mainz. Self-regulation, i.e., the ability to manage attention, emotions and impulses, as well as to pursue individual goals with perseverance, is not a skill that we usually associate with young children. However, the school closures due to the pandemic and the increased usage of digital media by children have now shown how important these abilities are, especially for children. Studies show that people who demonstrated self-regulation as children go on to have on average higher income, better health and greater life satisfaction. They also show that the ability to exert self-regulation can already be trained in a targeted manner in childhood.