As human beings, we grow and change throughout our lifetimes to varying degrees, but the changes from childhood through adolescence are often the most dramatic. But does that mean that who we are as young kids is irrelevant to who we are as adults? A 20-year study sought to explore that question with some fascinating results.

The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, showed that when children learn to interact effectively with their peers and control their emotions, it can have an enormous impact on how their adult lives take shape. And according to the research, kids should be spending more time on these skills in school.

Kindergarten teachers evaluated the kids with a portion of something called the Social Competence Scale by rating statements like “The child is good at understanding others’ feelings” on a handy “Not at all/A little/Moderately well/Well/Very well” scale.

The research team used these responses to give each kid a “social competency score,” which they kept stored away in a file somewhere for 19 years, or until each kid was 25. At that point, they gathered some basic information about the now-grown-ups and did some fancy statistical work to see whether their early social skills held any predictive value.

What 19 years of research found

Here are 3 crucial findings they uncovered.

1. Grades and test scores matter, but maybe not for the reasons we thought.

Traditional thinking says that if a kid gets good grades and test scores, he or she must be really smart, right? After all, there is a proven........

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