Inattentive children will earn less money at age 35

New Université de Montréal study finds boys and girls aged 5 and 6 who do not pay attention in kindergarten are more likely to report lower incomes than other children when they are between 33 and 35 years old.

On the other hand, researchers have discovered that the most "pro-social" boys (those who help others, are considerate and eager to participate in educational projects) are mbadively heading for careers that pay more than the average.

"Over a 25-year career, the differences between the two groups can reach $ 77,000," said Sylvana Côté, professor of public health at UdeM, senior author of the study published this week in the Psychiatry of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

"And all of this has nothing to do with intelligence or IQ because extreme cases have been excluded from the sample," she added.

"The differences are significant between the groups studied, but the precise reasons for these disparities remain difficult to identify," said Côté, a child development specialist.

Problems of inattention more often lead children to drop out of school or have trouble adapting when they enter the labor market. In addition, the researchers found that "pro-social" children were on a trajectory to higher-paying jobs.

Three decades of data

Covering almost three decades, the study used data from the psychosocial imbalance research unit of children and involved more than 3,000 children in kindergarten in 1985. Behaviors were badessed over time using of questionnaires.

This is the first time that "pro-social" is the subject of such an inquiry and its positive effect has been a surprise for the team.

"We expected to find differences between boys and girls and found some important ones," said Côté. "We expected hyperactivity to be the most important variable, but in reality it was less important than just lack of attention."

The differences were evident when the data were collected in 2015, a year in which age groups grew up early in their working lives and where wage gaps between individuals were minimal.

"Our study," the authors write, "shows that childhood inattention is badociated with a wide range of adverse long-term outcomes, including lower earnings during a career. "

They add that early monitoring and care of very inattentive children and boys who rarely express prosocial behaviors "may have long-term socio-economic benefits for individuals and society".

A team effort

The study was an effort of the international team. UdeM postdoctoral fellow, Francis Vergunst, is the senior author, badisted by professors Richard E. Tremblay and Frank Vitaro, academics in the United States (Daniel Nagin) and France (Yann Algan, Elizabeth Beasley and Cedric Galera) and Statistics Canada Jungwee Park.

The research was conducted at the Quebec Interuniversity Center for Social Statistics (QICSS), which allows researchers to access detailed data from Statistics Canada and Statistics Institute surveys. of Quebec. On the basis of tax returns, the data is coded to prevent the identification of subjects.

For three years, Sylvana Côté and her collaborators worked to collect the data and link it to the psychosocial observations of the subjects of the study. "All of this research ultimately aims to improve interventions with youth to make them as optimal as possible," said Mr. Côté.

Unexpected result: 30% less income for women

In general, three decades after kindergarten, women earn only 70% of what men earn, according to the UdeM study. JAMA 3,040 five- and six-year-olds entered the Quebec school system in 1985

"This finding underscores that the origins of gender disparities in childhood are poorly understood and deserve to be studied," said lead author Sylvana Côté, a specialist in child development in Canada. l & # 39; UdeM.

With the help of economists and statisticians, Ms. Côté indicated that she would attempt to find answers to the questions raised by this collateral result of her longitudinal research on the effects of preschool behavior.

"These girls are now between 35 and 40 years old," she said. "They are as educated as boys and have similar experiences.Is there any individual, family or school factors during childhood or adolescence that could explain the income gap? We are going to try to find out. "