Children with weak future planning are more likely to be involved in crime

If you were asked whether you’d prefer to be given $140 today or $1400 in five years' time, the smart answer is obvious. But immediate cash can be really tempting: perhaps you have expensive car repairs looming or you want to buy a gift for someone—that $140 would do the trick. It can be easy to justify cheating your future self out of $1260 in the face of instant gratification. The tendency to ignore or discount the value of a future benefit is called "time discounting." Plenty of research suggests...

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