How Children Succeed

1. Character strengths are as crucial as cognitive skills for success

"Whether it's the pioneer in the Conestoga wagon or someone coming here in the 1920s from southern Italy, there was always this idea in America that if you worked hard and you showed real grit, that you could be successful."

Character matters. Research by James Heckman and others has shown that noncognitive skills like perseverance, self-control, and curiosity are just as important as IQ in predicting life outcomes. These character strengths:

• Predict academic achievement
• Correlate with better health and financial stability
• Are associated with lower rates of substance abuse and criminal behavior

Measurable impact. Studies have found that character strengths can be more predictive of success than traditional cognitive measures:

• High school GPA, which reflects both cognitive ability and character, is a better predictor of college graduation than standardized test scores
• The ACE study showed that childhood adversity affects adult outcomes through its impact on character development

2. Childhood adversity affects brain development and future outcomes

"When a potential danger appears, the first line of defense is the hypothalamus, the region of the brain that controls unconscious biological processes like body temperature, hunger, and thirst."

Stress shapes the brain. Chronic stress and trauma in childhood can have lasting effects on brain development and function:

• Activates the HPA axis, flooding the body with stress hormones
• Impairs development of the prefrontal cortex, affecting executive functions
• Can lead to a chronically overactive stress response system

Long-term consequences. The ACE study revealed that adverse childhood experiences correlate with negative outcomes later in life:

• Higher rates of heart disease, cancer, and other health problems
• Increased risk of substance abuse and mental health issues
• Lower educational attainment and earning potential

3. Effective parenting buffers against stress and promotes resilience

"Parents and other caregivers who are able to form close, nurturing relationships with their children can foster resilience in them that protects them from many of the worst effects of a harsh early environment."

Attachment matters. Secure attachment relationships in early childhood provide a foundation for healthy development:

• Buffer against stress by regulating the child's stress response system
• Promote development of self-regulation skills
• Foster curiosity and willingness to explore

Parenting interventions work. Programs that support positive parenting practices can have significant impacts:

• Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC) program improves outcomes for foster children
• Home visiting programs for at-risk families reduce child abuse and improve school readiness
• Parent-child psychotherapy can heal trauma and improve attachment

4. Schools can cultivate character strengths through targeted interventions

"Teaching chess is really about teaching the habits that go along with thinking," Spiegel explained to me one morning when I visited her classroom. "Like how to understand your mistakes and how to be more aware of your thought processes."

Deliberate practice. Schools can intentionally develop character strengths through:

• Explicit instruction in skills like goal-setting and emotion regulation
• Creating opportunities for students to practice these skills
• Providing feedback and reflection on character development

Successful models. Several schools and programs have shown promising results:

• KIPP schools integrate character education throughout the curriculum
• Tools of the Mind program develops self-regulation in young children
• OneGoal program builds college persistence skills in high school students

5. Grit and self-control are powerful predictors of achievement

"Grit, Duckworth discovered, is only faintly related to IQ—there are smart gritty people and dumb gritty people—but at Penn, high grit scores allowed students who had entered college with relatively low college-board scores to nonetheless achieve high GPAs."

Grit defined. Angela Duckworth's research on grit highlights the importance of:

• Passion and perseverance for long-term goals
• Ability to maintain effort and interest despite setbacks
• Consistency of interests over time

Self-control's impact. Studies show self-control predicts a wide range of positive outcomes:

• Academic achievement
• Physical health
• Financial stability
• Lower rates of substance abuse and criminal behavior

6. Mindset matters: Growth mindset fosters resilience and learning

"According to this new way of thinking, the conventional wisdom about child development over the past few decades has been misguided. We have been focusing on the wrong skills and abilities in our children, and we have been using the wrong strategies to help nurture and teach those skills."

Malleability of intelligence. Carol Dweck's research shows that believing intelligence can be developed leads to:

• Greater academic effort and persistence
• Willingness to take on challenges
• Improved performance over time

Interventions work. Teaching students about growth mindset can have significant effects:

• Reduces stereotype threat for minority and female students
• Improves academic performance, especially in challenging subjects
• Increases resilience in the face of setbacks

7. Addressing poverty requires focus on both cognitive and non-cognitive skills

"If we want to improve the odds for children in general, and for poor children in particular, we need to approach childhood anew, to start over with some fundamental questions about how parents affect their children; how human skills develop; how character is formed."

Multifaceted approach. Effective interventions for children in poverty must address:

• Cognitive skills through high-quality education
• Character strengths through intentional development
• Environmental factors like stress and trauma

Policy implications. A comprehensive approach to poverty reduction should include:

• Early childhood interventions to support healthy development
• School-based programs that develop both cognitive and non-cognitive skills
• Family support services to reduce stress and promote positive parenting

8. College success depends on character as much as academic ability

"What matters most in a child's development, they say, is not how much information we can stuff into her brain in the first few years. What matters, instead, is whether we are able to help her develop a very different set of qualities, a list that includes persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit, and self-confidence."

Beyond test scores. College persistence and graduation rates are influenced by:

• Self-control and time management skills
• Ability to seek help and use campus resources
• Resilience in the face of academic and personal challenges

Interventions for success. Programs that support college success focus on:

• Developing study skills and academic strategies
• Building social connections and support networks
• Fostering a sense of belonging and identity as a college student

9. Chess as a model for developing critical thinking and character

"Playing chess, she wrote, had become 'pretty much the only time I ever feel anything. The rest of the time, with just a couple exceptions, I am almost completely numb.'"

Cognitive benefits. Chess develops critical thinking skills:

• Pattern recognition and strategic planning
• Impulse control and decision-making
• Concentration and memory

Character development. The process of learning chess cultivates important character strengths:

• Grit and perseverance through repeated practice and failure
• Self-control in managing emotions during competition
• Growth mindset in approaching challenges and learning from mistakes

Last updated: January 22, 2025