Thesis
Delay of gratification in preschoolers: predictors of individual differences
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2012
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/105612
Abstract
The current study examined the relationships among preschoolers' ability to delay gratification, their level of executive functioning, their level of effortful control and the strategies they use to help them delay. Seventy-three Latino participants (ages three to five) were recruited through Head Start classrooms, with a median age of 57 months. Delay of gratification was measured using Mischel's well-known bell task, where children chose between a small immediate food reward or a larger delayed reward. Executive functioning was assessed by the tapping task (Diamond & Taylor, 1996) (a motor inhibition task) and the flexible item selection task--FIST (Jacques & Zelazo, 2001) (a cognitive shifting task). Effortful Control was assessed with the Child Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ) completed by the mothers. Delay strategies were coded from videotapes with a detailed coding system. The codes were reliable (Kappas > .70); strategies that occurred in at least 10% of children were examined. Behaviors positively associated with wait times were strategies involving distraction (looks under table, shakes body or head), play (plays with treat, plays with bell), or restraint (restrains hands, puts hands under table). A path analysis revealed that the relationship between executive functioning and wait time was fully mediated by the "hands under the table" strategy. These findings are consistent with the conclusion that children with high levels of executive functioning successfully delayed gratification by planfully putting their hands under the table during the sessions. Other children were successful in delaying gratification as well, but the strategies that they used involved distraction or making the bell or prize the object of play (general play was not related to delay). Implications of these findings for the development of emotion regulation are discussed.
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Details
- Title
- Delay of gratification in preschoolers
- Creators
- Rachael A. Hill
- Contributors
- Thomas George Power (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Human Development, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525286201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis