Natural history of male psychological health, X: Work as a predictor of positive mental health.

A sample of 456 inner city men was prospectively followed from age 14 until age 47. Rates blind to adult outcome assessed the men's childhood success at tasks reflecting Erikson's fourth developmental stage, industry versus inferiority. Childhood assessments were made on the parenting the men received and other psychosocial variables, including social class and IQ, and were compared with independent judgments of these men's mental health and career success at age 47. Capacity to work in childhood predicted the success of these underprivileged men at work in adult life and surpassed social class, multiproblem-family membership, and all other childhood variables in predicting adult mental health and capacity for interpersonal relationships.