Children who show poor decision-making skills at age 10 or 11 may be more likely to experience interpersonal and behavioral difficulties that have the potential to lead to high-risk health behavior in their teen years, according to a new study from Oregon State University psychology professor.

"These findings suggest that less-refined decision skills early in life could potentially be a harbinger for problem behavior in the future," said Joshua Weller, an assistant professor in the School of Psychological Science in OSU's College of Liberal Arts.

However, if poor decision-making patterns can be identified while children are still young, parents, educators and health professionals may have an opportunity to intervene and help those children enhance these skills, said Weller, who studies individual differences in decision-making.

"This research underscores that decision-making is a skill and it can be taught," he said. "The earlier you teach these skills, the potential for improving outcomes increases."

His findings were published recently in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. Co-authors are Maxwell Moholy of Idaho State University and Elaine Bossard and Irwin P. Levin of the University of Iowa. The research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

The researchers wanted to better understand how pre-adolescent children's decision-making skills predicted later behavior. To do so, they conducted follow-up assessments with children who had participated in a previous decision-making study.

About 100 children, ages 10 and 11, participated in the original study, where they answered questions that helped assess their decision-making skills. They were evaluated based on how they perceived the risks of a decision, their ability to use appropriate decision-making rules and whether their confidence about a decision matched their actual knowledge on a subject.

For the new study, researchers invited the original study participants -- now 12 and 13 years old -- and their parents back for a follow-up. In all, 76 children ages participated in the second study, which included a behavior assessment that was completed by both the parent and the child.

The behavior assessment included questions about emotional difficulties, conduct issues such as fighting or lying and problems with peers. Those kinds of behavioral issues are often linked to risky health behavior for teens, including substance abuse or high-risk sexual activity, Weller said.

Researchers compared each child's scores from the initial decision-making assessment to the child's and their parent's behavioral reports. They found that children who scored worse on the initial decision-making assessment were more likely to have behavioral problems two years later.

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Child's poor decision-making skills can predict later behavior problems, research shows