Predictors of initial status and change in self-control during the college transition

Although self-control tends to increase through late adolescence, there are individual differences in patterns of growth. Latent growth modeling was used to investigate change in self-control across students’ first year of college (N = 569, Mage = 18.03; 70.3% female; 89.6% White), and whether attachment to parents predicted this change when controlling for personality and demographic variables. Self-control decreased linearly across five assessments, with significant heterogeneity in intercepts and slopes. Personality was associated with initial self-control, and greater avoidant attachment to mothers and openness to experience predicted greater declines. Overall, self-control changes across late adolescence, and attachment and personality explain individual differences in that change, indicating potential intervention targets during emerging adulthood. •Self-control decreased linearly across 5 waves during the first year of college.•Greater avoidant attachment to mothers predicted steeper declines in self-control.•Personality predicted initial self-control, and openness predicted steeper declines.