People’s capacity for self-control is closely tied to their life chances. If parents transmit their own lack of self-control to their offspring, this becomes a potential mechanism through which intergenerational disadvantage occurs. We investigate this issue by using Housing, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) data to examine the intergenerational correlation in the trait self-control of parents and their young-adult children, paying particular attention to i) the role of fathers; and ii) family stress while young people were growing up.
Our results indicate that some young people may be particularly sensitive to growing up in a stressful environment, opening the door for family stress to shape the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage through the formation of self-control.