Enabling Delay of Gratification Behavior in Those Not So Predisposed: The Moderating Role of Social Support.

Xiaoyan Liu,Jiangqun Liao,Lei Wang

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00366

Xiaoyan Liu, Jiangqun Liao + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00366

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Abstract

The presence of delay of gratification (DG) in childhood is correlated with success later in a person's life. Is there any way of helping adults with a low level of DG to obtain similar success? The present research examines how social support helps those low in DG nonetheless to act similarly to those high in DG. This research includes both correlational studies and experiments that manipulate social support as well as both field studies and a laboratory study. The results show that with high social support, employees (Study 1) and university students (Study 2) low in DG report vocational and academic DG behavioral intentions, respectively, similar to those high in DG. Study 3 found that participants low in DG who were primed with high social support expressed job-choice DG similar to those high in the DG. Study 4 controlled for mood and self-image and found that participants low in DG who were primed with high social support expressed more money-choice DG than those high in the DG. Study 5 showed that social support moderated the relationship between DG and actual DG behaviors. These findings provide evidence for a moderating role of social support in the expression of DG behavior.

Highlights

It is a well-known finding that a 4 year old child who resists the temptation to eat a marshmallow immediately in order to get two marshmallows 15 min later experiences later-life success in such diverse areas as SAT scores, health, and marriage
We propose that for individuals low in the delay of gratification (DG) trait, social support may lead to DG behavioral intentions and behaviors like those seen in people who are high in the DG trait
The results demonstrated that GDG was different from academic delay of gratification (ADG), and social support moderated the relationship between the DG trait and academic DG behavioral intention

Summary

INTRODUCTION

It is a well-known finding that a 4 year old child who resists the temptation to eat a marshmallow immediately in order to get two marshmallows 15 min later experiences later-life success in such diverse areas as SAT scores, health, and marriage (see Ayduk, 2007; for review, see Schlam et al, 2013). Research indicates that 4-year-old children who are more able to delay gratification are able to achieve higher academic scores (Mischel et al, 1992; Duckworth and Seligman, 2005) and cognitive control (Eigsti et al, 2006) as adults As adolescents they exhibit more concentration and frustration tolerance than their peers (Mischel et al, 1988; Shoda et al, 1990), and they are perceived as more interpersonally competent by parents and peers (Mischel et al, 1989). In Study 2, we tested the moderating role of social support between general DG and academic DG behavioral intention among university students. Study 1 used self-report questionnaires to initially explore the hypothesis whether social support moderates the relationship between the DG trait and DG behavioral intention. Since most researchers have found that perceived social support is a better predictor of psychological status than objectively measured social support (Barrera et al, 1981; Sarason et al, 1985) and that social support was beneficial only when the support was responsive (Maisel and Gable, 2009), we adopted a perceived social support measure for the questionnaire studies

Methods

Results and Discussion

Gender 2 Age 3 GDG 4 Social support 5 Job-choice DG

GENERAL DISCUSSION