Moving past the marshmallow test to predict future success

Kindergarten children whose teachers rate them as being highly inattentive tend to earn less in their 30s than classmates who are rated highly “pro-social,” according to a recent paper in JAMA Psychiatry. In fact, inattention could prove to be a better predictor of future educational and occupational success than the famous “marshmallow test” designed to assess a child’s ability to delay gratification. And a single teacher’s assessment may be sufficient to identify at-risk children, the authors claim.

Source: Forget the marshmallow test; this could be the real secret to kids’ future success | Ars Technica

Basically, the marshmellow test doesn’t really tell us anything once we’ve taken factors such as socioeconomic status into account.

And, it’s only at most 2 marshmellows… Make me wait for something good, like Ho Hos!