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I didn't grow out of it.

or

I haven't grown out of it.

Which sentence is grammatically more correct? I'd rather say the second, but I saw in the text the first one.

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Context, context, context! The choice between present perfect and past is governed primarily by how it fits in your discourse.

  • Use the past-tense construction if your discourse is about the past.

    When I was very young I was fascinated with Legos. I spent hours building houses, then cities, finally entire landscapes populated with little people I made up stories about. My parents expected I would eventually find other interests, but I didn't grow out of it. I kept on building Lego universes and inventing stories through high school and college.

  • Use the present perfect construction if your discourse is about the present.

    My son and I do everything together. We play football together, we go to the zoo together, we watch TV together—and we build Lego cities together. I haven't grown out of my childhood love of Legos, and I enjoy this more than anything else we do.

Often, however, your discourse shifts between past and present, or a past narrative leads up to the present. In that case, you are free to choose which construction you employ:

I've always been fascinated with Legos. Even when I was very young I spent hours building houses, then cities, finally entire landscapes populated with little people I made up stories about. And I didn't grow out of it; I still build Lego universes and Lego robots.

I've always been fascinated with Legos. Even when I was very young I spent hours building houses, then cities, finally entire landscapes populated with little people I made up stories about. And I haven't grown out of it; I still build Lego universes and Lego robots.

As Khan says, in cases like this, US speakers tend to use past-tense constructions more than UK speakers; but that is only a tendency, and there is no fixed rule.

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This is particularly used for a habit

See these examples

  1. He had grown out of his fear of darkness by the time he was 8.
  2. He didn't grow out of his fear of darkness until he got to be 8.
  3. He's not yet grown out of his fear of darkness although he is now 8.

So your question was which one of your sentences was grammatically correct. So i think both are correct. They only refer to the times (past or present) You might modify the sentence like

  1. I didn't grow out of alcohol until I had joined Alcoholics Anonymous.

This sentence means you no longer drink alcohol.

But if you are still drinking it then only your second sentence applies, which is --

  1. I haven't yet grown out of alcohol although I have joined Alcoholics Anonymous.
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I didn't grow out of it.

I haven't grown out of it.

The British use the present perfect for recent actions, whereas American use either the past simple or the present perfect for recent actions.

So if the OP is talking about a recent action, he should use only the second sentence in British English. But in American English, he can use either the first sentence or the second one.

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