Delay discounting in middle childhood: Heritability estimates from a twin study

IF 1.8 3区心理学 Q3 PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL Cognitive Development Pub Date : 2025-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-04-25 DOI:10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101578

Inês Morais , Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg , Jacob J.W. Bakermans , Manuela Veríssimo

{"title":"Delay discounting in middle childhood: Heritability estimates from a twin study","authors":"Inês Morais , Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg , Jacob J.W. Bakermans , Manuela Veríssimo","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101578","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Many situations and tasks depend on the ability to delay gratification and control impulses. The degree of impatience or reluctance to wait for delayed outcomes is considered a mechanism underlying impulsive decision-making and predictive of a range of developmental outcomes. However, behavioral genetic studies of delay discounting (DD) focused on adults and adolescents, and did not yet include younger children.</div></div><div><h3>Aims</h3><div>The present study explored DD in middle childhood. We estimated the heritability using a twin design and explored associations between DD and variables such as sex, age, socioeconomic status (SES), IQ, and inhibitory control. Method: A total of 514 children (49 % boys) from 257 twin pairs, with a mean age of 8;11 years (SD = 0;8), participated in this study. DD was assessed using the Delay Discounting of Money task. Behavioral genetic analyses were conducted using R.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The variance and covariance of DD were best accounted for by a combination of genetic (25 %) and unique environmental factors (75 %). Results in boys and girls were similar. Significant associations with inhibitory control were found.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Our results point to a genetic basis for DD in a developmental sample, complementing research on older age groups. The pattern of results from this and other studies suggest that heritability estimates increase over time.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"74 ","pages":"Article 101578"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Cognitive Development","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885201425000371","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/4/25 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Many situations and tasks depend on the ability to delay gratification and control impulses. The degree of impatience or reluctance to wait for delayed outcomes is considered a mechanism underlying impulsive decision-making and predictive of a range of developmental outcomes. However, behavioral genetic studies of delay discounting (DD) focused on adults and adolescents, and did not yet include younger children.

Aims

The present study explored DD in middle childhood. We estimated the heritability using a twin design and explored associations between DD and variables such as sex, age, socioeconomic status (SES), IQ, and inhibitory control. Method: A total of 514 children (49 % boys) from 257 twin pairs, with a mean age of 8;11 years (SD = 0;8), participated in this study. DD was assessed using the Delay Discounting of Money task. Behavioral genetic analyses were conducted using R.

Results

The variance and covariance of DD were best accounted for by a combination of genetic (25 %) and unique environmental factors (75 %). Results in boys and girls were similar. Significant associations with inhibitory control were found.

Conclusions

Our results point to a genetic basis for DD in a developmental sample, complementing research on older age groups. The pattern of results from this and other studies suggest that heritability estimates increase over time.

查看原文

微信好友朋友圈 QQ好友复制链接

本刊更多论文

童年中期的延迟折扣：一项双胞胎研究的遗传率估计

许多情况和任务取决于延迟满足和控制冲动的能力。不耐烦或不愿等待延迟结果的程度被认为是冲动决策的潜在机制，并预测了一系列发展结果。然而，延迟折扣（DD）的行为遗传学研究主要集中在成人和青少年，尚未包括年幼的儿童。目的探讨儿童中期发育障碍。我们使用双胞胎设计估计遗传力，并探索DD与性别、年龄、社会经济地位（SES）、智商和抑制控制等变量之间的关联。方法：从257对双胞胎中选取514名儿童（49 %男孩），平均年龄为8.11岁（SD = 0;8）。使用金钱延迟贴现任务评估DD。结果遗传因子（25 %）和独特环境因子（75 %）的组合最能解释DD的方差和协方差。男孩和女孩的结果相似。发现与抑制性控制显著相关。结论我们的研究结果指出了发育样本中DD的遗传基础，补充了对老年群体的研究。这项研究和其他研究的结果模式表明，遗传率估计随着时间的推移而增加。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文去求助

来源期刊

Cognitive Development Multiple-

CiteScore

3.20

自引率

5.60%

发文量

114

期刊介绍： Cognitive Development contains the very best empirical and theoretical work on the development of perception, memory, language, concepts, thinking, problem solving, metacognition, and social cognition. Criteria for acceptance of articles will be: significance of the work to issues of current interest, substance of the argument, and clarity of expression. For purposes of publication in Cognitive Development, moral and social development will be considered part of cognitive development when they are related to the development of knowledge or thought processes.