Grit-passion and grit-perseverance in ultramarathon runners

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between ultramarathon running, grit-passion, and grit-perseverance. A total of 153 ultramarathon runners (age = 40.5  9.0 years) answered demographic questions and completed a survey measuring subcomponents of grit via Google Forms. Grit was measured with the 12-item Grit Scale consisting of two subscales: consistency of interest (grit-passion) and perseverance of effort (grit-perseverance). The ultramarathon runners were recruited through emails from race directors, Facebook groups, and email invitations from the primary investigator. Statistical analyses were performed using Pearson product-moment correlations and a one-way ANOVA. Significance was set to p < .05. There was a positive correlation between number of years running and grit-passion (r = .17, p = .039). On average, participants had spent 14.4  9.8 years running and had competed in ultramarathons for 4.3  3.5 years. A positive correlation was found between the number of kilometres run per week and grit-passion (r = .22, p = .007). Participants, on average, ran 57.9  21.4 kilometres per week. For grit-perseverance, there was a statistically significant difference between the short and medium distance groups of ultramarathon runners when compared to the group of runners completing timed ultramarathon races (p = .002). Failure to complete their last ultramarathon was not significantly associated with grit-passion (p = .37) or grit-perseverance (p = .92).

Gritting One’s way to success – Grit explains skill in elite youth soccer players beyond (deliberate) practice

“…Although the relations of grit's components, CI and PE, and practice on the one side, and performance on the other, are less clear (Ansah & Apaak, 2019;Cousins et al, 2020;Tedesqui & Young, 2017, 2018, we can assume that one component will be stronger than the other in a model where both are entered simultaneously as predictors of DP and skill. CI and PE are correlated at least moderately with each other in studies (average r =.43; Guo et al, 2019), which means that one component, the stronger one, will take over a good share of the explained variance common for both components.…”

“…Some researchers have reported that PE (and not CI) differentiate between skilled athletes of different disciplines, including soccer (Tedesqui & Young, 2017, 2018. Others, however, have reported that both PE and CI are predictive of future success in athletes taking part in the university sports competitions (Ansah & Apaak, 2019) or that only CI is associated with longer tenure for ultramarathon runners (Cousins et al, 2020).…”

“…Given the paucity of published reports on the separate components of grit and their inconsistent results (Ansah & Apaak, 2019;Cousins et al, 2020;Tedesqui & Young, 2017, 2018, we consider this study exploratory in nature. Unlike most of the studies, however, we investigate both components simultaneously instead of separately.…”