Rethinking Delay of Gratification: Developmental Changes in Self-Regulation Across Five Countries

The ability to delay gratification (DoG) is widely regarded as a hallmark of self-regulation and has been linked to positive developmental and health outcomes. It remains unclear whether age-related improvements in DoG reflect delay-specific control processes or broader developmental changes in children’s regulation of consumption. In a preregistered, cross-cultural remote experiment, we examined whether children would consume less in a DoG than in a spontaneous intake context, whether any developmental improvements are accounted by inhibitory control, and whether delay performance related to health outcomes such as body mass index (BMI) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Children aged 5 to 10 years from Brazil, China, Germany, Italy, and Slovenia (N = 186; 87 girls) completed the experiment. The results showed that children consumed significantly less in the DoG condition than in spontaneous intake, and that consumption decreased with age in both conditions. While inhibition did not uniquely account for waiting ability, age-effects appeared stronger among children with lower inhibition. These findings were consistent across the cross-cultural sample. Finally, delay performance was not associated with BMI or HRQoL. The results suggest that age-related gains in DoG also reflect maturation of regulation processes and not only improvements in delay-specific control, with developmental effects being most evident among children with lower response inhibition. In addition, the findings demonstrate the feasibility of remote, cross-cultural assessment of self-regulation.