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Preschool children who paid attention were more likely to complete college
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The odds of children completing college by the age of 25 years were significantly predicted by their ability to pay attention, and not by their math or reading skills, according to new research.
Attention and persistence skills are malleable and can be taught, the researchers said, and teachers, parents and clinicians can help children practice these skills in fun and engaging ways.
“Promoting early attention and persistence — which are parts of self-regulation — in children can have important long-term benefits in terms of academic achievement and educational attainment,” study researcher Megan M. McClelland, PhD, of Oregon State University, told Healio.com. “Promoting academic skills is important, but being able to focus and persist on tasks is also critical for early reading and math skills.”
McClelland and colleagues tracked 430 children aged 4 years who were part of the Colorado Adoption Project.
Megan M. McClelland
The biological and adopted parents of the preschool children were asked to complete questionnaires rating their children’s “attention span-persistence,” which refered to “selecting and attending to relevant information, such as listening to the teacher, and persisting on a task,” according to the researchers. Standardized assessments that measure children’s vocabulary skills at the age of 4 years and their math and reading abilities at ages 7 and 21 years were completed in a laboratory setting. Telephone interviews were conducted to determine college completion rates.
Math and reading abilities did not significantly predict whether or not students completed college. However, logistic regression analyses revealed that preschool children with greater attention span-persistence had almost 50% greater odds of earning a bachelor’s degree by the age of 25 years (OR=1.14; P=.003). After controlling for achievement levels at age 7 years, adoption status, child vocabulary skills, gender and maternal education level, the researchers found that children’s attention span-persistence also significantly predicted math (P=.007) and reading (P=.083) achievement at age 21 years.
“The results from the present study highlight the importance of children’s early attention span-persistence skills for achievement throughout formal schooling and into adulthood,” the researchers wrote. “This suggests that efforts to improve early attention span-persistence may have long-lasting educational benefits that persist into adulthood.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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