Perseverance and consistency of interest in underrepresented post-doctoral fellows and early-career faculty

Abstract

Introduction: Underrepresented researchers face more challenges than their well-represented counterparts. Perseverance and consistency of interest are associated with career success in well-represented physicians. Therefore, we examined associations of perseverance and consistency of interest with Clinical Research Appraisal Inventory (CRAI), science identity, and other factors related to career success among underrepresented post-doctoral fellows and early-career faculty. Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis of data collected from September to October 2020 among 224 underrepresented early-career researchers at 25 academic medical centers in the Building Up Trial. We used linear regression to test associations of perseverance and consistency of interest scores with CRAI, science identity, and effort/reward imbalance (ERI) scores. Results: The cohort is 80% female, 33% non-Hispanic Black, and 34% Hispanic. The median perseverance and consistency of interest scores were 3.8 (25th–75th percentile: 3.7,4.2) and 3.7 (25th–75th percentile: 3.2, 4.0), respectively. Higher perseverance was associated with a higher CRAI score (β = 0.82; 95% CI = 0.30, 1.33, p = 0.002) and science identity (β = 0.44; 95% CI = 0.19, 0.68, p = 0.001). Higher consistency of interest was associated with a higher CRAI score (β = 0.60; 95% CI = 0.23, 0.96, p = 0.001) and higher science identity score (β = 0.20; 95% CI = 0.03, 0.36, p = 0.02), while lower consistency of interest was associated with imbalance favoring effort (β = –0.22; 95% CI = –0.33, –0.11, p = 0.001). Conclusions: We found that perseverance and consistency of interest are related to CRAI and science identity, indicating that these factors may positively influence one’s decision to stay in research.

The impact of inclusive mentoring and identity work on self-efficacy in career advancement and career commitment among underrepresented early-career faculty and post-doctoral fellows

“…Nearly all participants in this study were committed to continuing research training. This is not surprising considering our previous research showing that underrepresented postdoctoral fellows and early-career faculty have high levels of grit [26]. Grit, which consists of perseverance and consistency of interest, has been shown to positively impact career success and goal achievement [27].…”

“…The more grit an individual has, the more likely they are to pursue career goals and achieve career success [ 27 ]. Our cohort is “very gritty [ 26 ],” which may explain why no one in this cohort indicated that they definitely will not continue training to conduct research. Although this cohort has a high level of grit [ 26 ], individuals from underrepresented backgrounds face systemic discrimination, lack of representation in the biomedical workforce, and stereotypes [ 28 , 29 ].…”

“…Our cohort is “very gritty [ 26 ],” which may explain why no one in this cohort indicated that they definitely will not continue training to conduct research. Although this cohort has a high level of grit [ 26 ], individuals from underrepresented backgrounds face systemic discrimination, lack of representation in the biomedical workforce, and stereotypes [ 28 , 29 ]. Although these obstacles can negatively impact career commitment, in our cohort, a small percentage of individuals “strongly agreed” that they were confident in their ability to progress in their career (19%) or overcome professional barriers (16%), and most participants were committed to continuing research training and studying in a field related to biomedical science.…”