A boy crying in the school playground. A new British study finds that some behaviors considered problematic in childhood can lead to higher salaries later in life.
guanmonino | E+ | Getty Images
School bullies are more likely to end up earning higher salaries, upending the widespread belief that they will get their comeuppance later in life, a new study suggests.
Research published by the UK's Institute of Social and Economic Research earlier this month found that children who showed certain types of problematic behavior at school, including tantrums and teasing or bullying others, had higher earnings in their 40s.
Children with “behaviour problems” at school also reported higher levels of satisfaction at work.
Meanwhile, it was the kids who struggled to pay attention and form relationships with classmates who ended up doing worse in the job market and had less work and life satisfaction.
Failure to complete tasks and emotional problems such as anxiety were also associated with poorer outcomes in the labor market.
The study used data from the 1970 British cohort study to compare a wide range of behaviors and skills reported by teachers at ages 10 and 16, with educational level, earnings, hours worked, and occupation up to age 46.
It found that the social and emotional skills identified in school-age children can help predict various aspects of later life. The study took into account socioeconomic details such as family income, parents' employment, and educational status.
The findings suggest a need to reconsider how schools discipline children, according to the authors.
“It is possible that what is often identified as aggressive behavior is an adaptive response to a competitive environment,” they say.
“Instead of a punitive approach, there can be a greater focus on understanding the causes of disruptive behavior and teachers can be trained to identify strategies that help children channel these tendencies in ways that are better suited to the classroom.”
