the InMind blog

Everything was better in the past? Children’s self-regulation across the decades

• written by Stefanie Peykarjou

Editorial Assistants: Elisabeth Höhne, Stella Wernicke

Note: The blog post was originally published in the German version of In-Mind.

Do you also believe, like most American adults, that children today have less self-control than prior generations? A large study suggests that this assumption is wrong: Children from the 2000s can wait longer for candy than children from the 1960s and 1980s.

The ability to control our wishes and desires is paramount. Should I play computer games or study for the math test? Should I run some laps on the sports field or hang out with friends? Should I indulge in chocolate cake or opt for a salad (and maybe just a slice of cake for dessert)? Self-control can be defined as the ability to resist temptations and delay immediate gratification. Research has shown that this ability is crucial for our long-term development. In fact, self-control is a key predictor across various outcomes from childhood to adulthood, including health, educational attainment, financial stability, and long-term relationships.

Given its centrality to success in many areas, it is desirable for children to develop high self-control. However, one might suspect that children today, faced with numerous temptations such as toys, computer games, and candy, might struggle more with self-control, especially in light of supposedly less strict parenting in recent years. These challenges may manifest in difficulties delaying rewards or waiting for gratification. A recent survey of American adults found that, in fact, most people believe children were better at waiting for candy 50 years ago compared to today.

However, a notable study comparing preschoolers' self-control from the 1960s, 1980s, and 2000s suggests that this intuitive prediction is false. This study utilized the famous “marshmallow task”: A marshmallow is placed in front of a child, who is told that if they wait and do not eat the marshmallow until the experimenter returns, they will receive a second marshmallow. Researchers measured how long the children waited until they could no longer resist eating the marshmallow. They discovered that children's waiting times have increased linearly since the 1960s: In the 1960s, children waited an average of five minutes, in the 1980s six minutes, and in the 2000s seven minutes. For young children, this represents a considerable improvement, suggesting that self-control may have increased over generations – contrary to people’s assumption. The effect was especially pronounced in younger children and boys – those who found waiting the most challenging.

So, what helps children wait increasingly longer for sweets? A cynic might say that children today are simply oversaturated with candy, but other studies show that sweets still have a powerful allure. Importantly, self-control now plays a more significant role in modern pedagogical concepts and even entertainment programs like “Sesame Street.”

References
S. M. Carlson et al., “Cohort effects in children’s delay of gratification,” Dev. Psychol., vol. 54, no. 8, pp. 1395–1407, 2018, doi: 10.1037/dev0000533.

T. E. Moffitt et al., “A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety,” PNAS, vol. 108, no. 7, pp. 2693–2698, 2011, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1010076108.

Image: Andres Ayrton via Pexels