TY - JOUR
T1 - What children do while they wait
T2 - The role of self-control strategies in delaying gratification
AU - Raghunathan, Radhika S.
AU - Musci, Rashelle J.
AU - Knudsen, Nicole
AU - Johnson, Sara B.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank all the families in the Fetus to Five Study for their time and participation to make this work possible. This study was supported by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NIH/NICHD KO1DA027229) to Sara B. Johnson.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2023/2
Y1 - 2023/2
N2 - Self-control plays an essential role in children's emotional and behavioral adjustment. A central behavioral indicator of self-control is the ability to delay gratification. Few studies have focused on understanding the heterogeneity of self-control behaviors that underlie children's ability to delay gratification. Therefore, we examined the role of spontaneous self-control behaviors (fidgeting, vocalizations, and anticipation/attentional focus toward a reward) in relation to 5-year old children's delay ability using Mischel's delay task (N = 144; Mage = 5.4 years, SD = 0.29). Latent mixture modeling was used to derive three distinct classes of self-control behaviors observed during the delay task: (1) Passive (low fidgeting, low vocalizations, but moderate anticipation), (2) Active (moderate fidgeting, moderate vocalizations, but high anticipation), and (3) Disruptive (high fidgeting, high vocalizations, and high anticipation). Children in the Passive class were more likely to delay the full task time compared with children in the Active class (odds ratio = 1.50, 95 % confidence interval = 1.28–1.81). There were no other differences in delay ability by self-control class. Children whose level of fidgeting and vocalizations matched their level of anticipation (i.e., Passive and Disruptive regulators) were able to delay more successfully than children who were mostly driven by anticipation (Active regulators). Some variation in children's delay ability and use of self-control strategies was explained by sociodemographic differences, specifically maternal age. Findings suggest probing processes underlying children's self-control to identify potential targets for intervention.
AB - Self-control plays an essential role in children's emotional and behavioral adjustment. A central behavioral indicator of self-control is the ability to delay gratification. Few studies have focused on understanding the heterogeneity of self-control behaviors that underlie children's ability to delay gratification. Therefore, we examined the role of spontaneous self-control behaviors (fidgeting, vocalizations, and anticipation/attentional focus toward a reward) in relation to 5-year old children's delay ability using Mischel's delay task (N = 144; Mage = 5.4 years, SD = 0.29). Latent mixture modeling was used to derive three distinct classes of self-control behaviors observed during the delay task: (1) Passive (low fidgeting, low vocalizations, but moderate anticipation), (2) Active (moderate fidgeting, moderate vocalizations, but high anticipation), and (3) Disruptive (high fidgeting, high vocalizations, and high anticipation). Children in the Passive class were more likely to delay the full task time compared with children in the Active class (odds ratio = 1.50, 95 % confidence interval = 1.28–1.81). There were no other differences in delay ability by self-control class. Children whose level of fidgeting and vocalizations matched their level of anticipation (i.e., Passive and Disruptive regulators) were able to delay more successfully than children who were mostly driven by anticipation (Active regulators). Some variation in children's delay ability and use of self-control strategies was explained by sociodemographic differences, specifically maternal age. Findings suggest probing processes underlying children's self-control to identify potential targets for intervention.
KW - Delay of gratification
KW - Latent variable analysis
KW - Self-control
KW - Self-regulation
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105576
DO - 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105576
M3 - Article
C2 - 36343433
AN - SCOPUS:85141226618
SN - 0022-0965
VL - 226
JO - Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
JF - Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
M1 - 105576
ER -