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Self-control plays an important role in people’s education, health, and financial decisions, yet we know little about whether it changes in adulthood. The COVID-19 pandemic created a rare opportunity to study this. It was a long and disruptive crisis that affected people’s daily lives, mental health, and economic security, often differently across regions. We wanted to understand whether adults’ self-control shifted during this period and whether personal experiences or differences in regional policies made any difference. Self-control proved remarkably stable. The average level of self-control in Australia before the pandemic was almost identical to the level after it, and the population distribution barely changed. Most people remained in the same relative position, and large increases or decreases were extremely uncommon. Experiences such as job loss, separation, or bereavement did not predict changes in self-control, nor did living in regions with very strict or very mild COVID-19 restrictions. In short, neither personal hardships nor the wider public health response altered adults’ self-control. The evidence suggests that self-control in adulthood is a deeply rooted and stable characteristic. Because it changes very little – even during a period as turbulent as the pandemic – policies aimed at permanently increasing adults’ self-control are unlikely to have large effects. More promising is supporting people in using the self-control they already have, for example through environments and systems that make long-term choices easier and short-term temptations harder to act on.
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