Keep on Truckin’ or Stay the Course? Exploring Grit Dimensions as Differential Predictors of Educational Achievement, Satisfaction, and Intentions

Abstract

In an ongoing effort to identify predictors of educational success and achievement, grit has emerged as a seemingly useful disposition. Grit is conceived as the combination of perseverance of effort and consistency of interest over time, but the predictive utility of these two dimensions has rarely been explored separately, and the limited research available has considered a small number of outcomes. This article draws upon three samples at two universities to examine the relationships between grit dimensions and various student outcomes. Multiple regression results indicated that perseverance of effort predicted greater academic adjustment, college grade point average, college satisfaction, sense of belonging, faculty–student interactions, and intent to persist, while it was inversely related to intent to change majors. Consistency of interest was associated with less intent to change majors and careers, but it was not significantly associated with any other outcome in the expected direction when controlling for other variables.

Predicting Educational Attainment: Does Grit Compensate for Low Levels of Cognitive Ability?

“…Following Bowman et al (2015), we dropped "setbacks don't discourage me" from the perseverance scale because its inclusion caused a substantial reduction in reliability. All three alphas are virtually identical to comparable statistics reported for samples of West Point cadets in Duckworth and Quinn (2009), and within the ranges reported in the meta-analysis of Credé et al (2017).…”

“…In contrast to studies that examined the grit-education relationship for small, select samples (Duckworth et al, 2007;Duckworth & Quinn 2009), our analysis used a representative sample of students with ability levels spanning the population-wide distribution. In addition, our analysis used a uniform sample of individuals as they advanced through successive educational levels, thus eliminating problems of noncomparability across studies that focus on a single educational institution (Bowman et al, 2015;Datu et al, 2016;Duckworth et al, 2007;Duckworth & Quinn, 2009;MacCann & Roberts, 2010: Strayhorn, 2014 or a single public school district (Eskreis-Winkler et al, 2014;West et al, 2016). Mendolia and Walker (2015) is a rare example of a prior study that examined the predictive power of grit with large-scale survey data.…”

“…Overall, it is unclear whether the timing of the NLSY97 TIPI administration imposed limits on our analysis. Third, although NLSY97 data enabled us to define a sequence of educational outcomes for a large, representative sample, the survey did not provide details on college engagement and satisfaction, time allocation, institutional support, and other aspects of educational experiences that previous studies (e.g., Bowman et al, 2015;Datu et al, 2016;EskreisWinkler et al, 2014) brought to bear.…”

Positive Disposition in the Prediction of Strategic Independence among Millennials

“…This finding suggests that young adults in college who possess grit are more inclined to be strategically independent than those with lower levels of this trait. As a predictor of myriad success outcomes related to careers (Duckworth and Allred 2012) and academic success (Bowman et al 2015), grit is a critical factor for setting and achieving long-term goals that require perseverance and tenacity. For many college students nearing graduation grit may be an essential ingredient for motivating them to make and sustain their commitment to plans that will help them transition successfully into their careers.…”

“…For example, Abuhassan and Bates (2015) find that grit is associated with higher life-course accomplishment. Bowman et al (2015) report that perseverance of effort is related to academic performance and satisfaction. These researchers find that consistency of effort is inversely related to subjects' intent to change majors and alter careers.…”