Kids today are waiting longer than ever in the classic marshmallow test
Researchers aren’t sure what’s driving this willingness to delay gratification
![marshmallow test](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/062918_BB_marshmallow-test_feat.jpg?fit=860%2C460&ssl=1)
HOLD OUTS Over the past 50 years, white, middle-class kids have shown an increasing willingness to delay gratification on the marshmallow test, a new study finds. Reasons for this trend, and the relationship of marshmallow test scores to later behavior, are unclear.
J. Adam Fenster/Univ. of Rochester