Forskningen viser, at præstationen i en udsættelsesopgave som 4-årig kan forudsige kropsmasseindeks (BMI) 30 år senere. Hver ekstra minut, barnet kunne udsætte belønning, forudsagde et fald i BMI med 0,2 point. Identificering af børn med vanskeligheder ved udsættelse kan hjælpe med at opdage dem, der er i risiko for overvægt. Interventionsprogrammer, der forbedrer selvkontrol, kan potentielt reducere denne risiko.
Titel på undersøgelse:
Preschoolers’ Delay of Gratification Predicts Their Body Mass 30 Years Later.
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Hele abstrakt på originalsprog:
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, 4-year-olds from a university-affiliated preschool completed a delay of gratification task as part of a longitudinal study, and approximately 30 years later, a subset of 164 participants (57% women) self-reported their height and weight to assess whether their preschool performance would predict their body mass index (BMI) in adulthood. Data analyzed using hierarchical regression showed that performance on the task accounted for 4% of the variance in BMI (P < .01), beyond the 13% explained by sex alone, with each additional minute of delay predicting a 0.2-point reduction in adult BMI. Longer delay of gratification at age 4 was associated with a lower BMI three decades later, though the correlational nature of the study prevents causal conclusions about the relationship. Identifying preschoolers with difficulty delaying gratification could help detect those at risk of becoming overweight or obese, and interventions improving self-control in young children might reduce this risk while also benefiting other socially significant outcomes.