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If you teach your child one thing, make it self control, researchers have said.

A major new study promises parents who work to teach their children self-control could see huge benefits not only in the short-term, but throughout their working life.

It could even lead to them being far more likely to finding a job, the team said.

British researchers found parents who work to instill self-control in their children could see huge benefits not only in the short-term, but throughout their working life. 

'The study highlights the importance of early life self-control as a powerful predictor of job prospects in adulthood,' said lead researcher Michael Daly of the University of Stirling in Scotland.

The new research in published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

The researchers who led the study found that children with high self-control - who are typically better able to pay attention, persist with difficult tasks, and suppress inappropriate or impulsive behaviours - are much more likely to find and retain employment as adults, spending 40% less time unemployed than those who had a lower capacity for self-control as children. 

The researchers used two studies of more than 15,000 British children to examine the link between self-control and adult unemployment. 

Self-control was measured at ages as young as 7 and the analyses adjusted for intelligence, social class, and family background and health factors. 

The results provided clear evidence linking self-control to unemployment rates across working life, the team said.

An examination of the 1980s recession also showed that those with low childhood self-control experienced a pronounced spike in joblessness during this difficult economic period. 

While this group was among the first to lose jobs during the recession, they also found it more difficult to regain employment.

The researchers used two studies of more than 15,000 British children to examine the link between self-control and adult unemployment.

This could be attributed to a range of factors including a heightened vulnerability to stress due to unemployment, the adverse effect of prolonged career interruptions on skill development and a greater likelihood of falling into habits which hinder their chances of regaining employment, such as poor time management and irregular sleep patterns.

'Less self-controlled children may be particularly vulnerable to unemployment during times of economic downturn in later life,' said Daly. 

'Developing greater self-control in childhood, when the capacity for self-control is particularly malleable, could help buffer against unemployment during recessions and bring long-term benefits to society, through increased employment rates and productivity.'

'Preschool interventions, school programmes, and activities such as yoga and martial arts, and walking meditation exercises have all been shown to help develop better self-control and related abilities,' Daly noted.