The Academic Diligence Task (ADT): assessing individual differences in effort on tedious but important schoolwork

Abstract

The current study reports on the development and validation of the Academic Diligence Task (ADT), designed to assess the tendency to expend effort on academic tasks which are tedious in the moment but valued in the long-term. In this novel online task, students allocate their time between solving simple math problems (framed as beneficial for problem solving skills) and, alternatively, playing Tetris or watching entertaining videos. Using a large sample of high school seniors (N = 921), the ADT demonstrated convergent validity with self-report ratings of Big Five conscientiousness and its facets, self-control and grit, as well as discriminant validity from theoretically unrelated constructs, such as Big Five extraversion, openness, and emotional stability, test anxiety, life satisfaction, and positive and negative affect. The ADT also demonstrated incremental predictive validity for objectively measured GPA, standardized math and reading achievement test scores, high school graduation, and college enrollment, over and beyond demographics and intelligence. Collectively, findings suggest the feasibility of online behavioral measures to assess noncognitive individual differences that predict academic outcomes.

The neurocognitive correlates of academic diligence in adolescent girls

“…Diligence is strongly correlated with personality traits like conscientiousness and grit, all of which have been shown to predict educational attainment (Credé, Tynan, & Harms, 2016;Duckworth & Gross, 2014;Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007;Galla et al, 2014). The contribution of diligence to educational attainment is thought to be dissociable from, and sometimes orthogonal to, measures such as fluid ability or intelligence (Duckworth et al, 2007).…”

“…Academic diligence is the ability to regulate behavior in the service of academic goals (Galla et al, 2014). Diligence is strongly correlated with personality traits like conscientiousness and grit, all of which have been shown to predict educational attainment (Credé, Tynan, & Harms, 2016;Duckworth & Gross, 2014;Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007;Galla et al, 2014).…”

Regulación Emocional Y Desempeño Académico: Revisión Sistemática De Sus Relaciones Empíricas

“…Existen estudios específicos de "demora de la gratificación académica" que han analizado cómo los estudiantes que resisten una tentación inmediata para permanecer en una tarea alcanzan resultados académicos favorables (Galla et al, 2014). Sería de valor analizar la existencia de una contribución diferencial de la demora de la gratificación y de la demora de la gratificación específicamente académica al DA, así como incluir muestras de diferentes edades.…”

“…En el ámbito de la medición, existen medidas de autoinforme y comportamentales adecuadas y específicas para la evaluación de las habilidades de tolerancia al distrés (e.g., Lejuez et al, 2003) y demora de la gratificación académica (e.g. Galla et al, 2014). Realizar estudios que incorporen mayor especificidad en la definición de los procesos de RE evaluados, permitirá mayor precisión en la selección de instrumentos, facilitará las comparaciones entre las investigaciones y por ende poder extraer conclusiones más sólidas respecto de la relación entre la RE y el DA.…”

“…La habilidad de demora de la gratificación o manejo de la tentación (resistir una tentación inmediata para obtener una recompensa mayor a largo plazo, Galla et al, 2014) también posee indirectamente un rol para la regulación de la emoción, por ejemplo, al requerir estrategias de auto-control para resistir una tentación.…”