Two studies examined the relationship between preschool and elementary school children's ability to delay gratification and their school behaviors, after controlling for differences in socioeconomic status (SES). Children's gratification control was measured through an age-appropriate dilemma that forced each child to exhibit gratification control to receive a preferred reward; gratification control was defined as the amount of time a child was able to wait for the preferred reward. Subjects for the first study were 35 4- and 5-year-olds who attended a pre-kindergarten program. Results indicated that 28 children waited the maximum 240 seconds and received the highest possible score. Children could in fact be categorized into those who easily waited and those who could not wait at all. Correlations between gratification control and verbal ability, non-verbal ability, and social skills were .29, .36, and .35, respectively. Because of the restricted range of gratification control and the homogeneity of the sample, none of the regression models involving socioeconomic status were highly explanatory. The participants in the second study were 49 third, fourth, and fifth graders. The gratification control task involved a maximum of 600 seconds for children to wait to receive a reward. Results indicated that gratification control was strongly related to language arts and mathematics grades and school behaviors. Gratification control was highly predictive of the dependent variable after controlling for SES. Only with mathematics grades as the dependent variable was SES significant. (Contains 10 references.) (KDFB)