Validation of survey effort measures of grit and self-control in a sample of high school students

Abstract

Personality traits such as grit and self-control are important determinants of success in life outcomes. However, most measures of these traits, which rely on self-reports, might be biased when used for the purpose of evaluating education policies or interventions. Recent research has shown the potential of survey effort-in particular, item non-response and careless answering-as a proxy measure of these traits. The current investigation uses a dataset of high school seniors (N = 513) to investigate survey effort measures in relationship with teacher reports, performance task measures, high school academic outcomes, and college attendance. Our results show promise for use of survey effort as proxy measures of grit and self-control.

Non-cognitive skills and social gaps in digital skills: Evidence from ICILS 2018

“…Using information from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), Anghel and Balart (2017) argue that time per question is a good indicator for non-cognitive skills such as motivation, ability to stay focused or grit/thrift. 5 Hedengren and Stratmann (2012) and Hitt et al (2016) show that non-response to non-challenging questions in surveys is negatively correlated with traits such as conscientiousness and perseverance (see also Zamarro et al, 2020 ).…”

Validation of the Child and Youth Resilience Measure-28 (CYRM-28) among Spanish youth

“…In fact, according to Joubert (2009) , encouraging the development of resilience is fundamental to promoting mental health in the population given that it enhances one's ability to manage external pressures and daily stressors ( World Health Organization, 2016 ). Internal qualities such as self-control ( Zamarro et al., 2020 ; Warren and Hale, 2020 ), goal setting, sense of humor, introspection, and creativity as well as external qualities such as having relational ties ( Werner, 2000 ; Hadfield and Ungar, 2018 ) allow people and groups to withstand and recover from difficult or adverse situations.…”

Electrophysiological Prints of Grit

“…While extreme patterns of complexity at rest can be indicative of pathology (Ibáñez-Molina et al, 2018 ), complexity indexes have been linked to effort while performing cognitive tasks (Müller et al, 2003 ; Stam, 2005 ; Sohn et al, 2010 ). Given the relationship between perseverance of effort and task values, self-efficacy, and general effort (Muenks et al, 2017 ; Zamarro et al, 2020 ), it is plausible to hypothesize that high grit participants (high perseverance of effort participants in particular) might show higher brain complexity levels during task performance as an indicator of task engagement (Müller et al, 2003 ; Stam, 2005 ; Sohn et al, 2010 ). Again, as with TBR, we explored whether impulsiveness and demographic variables affect this relationship between perseverance of effort and complexity indexes.…”