Grit has been suggested as a predictor of academic success over and above established constructs like conscientiousness (C) but has only been compared to brief inventories of trait-level C. This study examined the difference between using a brief inventory of C (Big Five Inventory [BFI]) and a facet-level inventory (NEO Personality Inventory–Revised [NEO PI-R]) as controls for grit in an undergraduate sample (N = 1,394). Grit exhibited strong correlations with C, particularly the facets of self-discipline and achievement striving. When BFI was used, both grit and C added small increments in explained variance while controlling for each other. When NEO PI-R was used, grit could not explain any additional variance in university grade and minuscule amounts (4%) in high school grade. Facets of C added moderate amounts (16%–54%) of incremental variance to both university and high school grades when controlling for grit. The results demonstrated that different outcomes are to be expected depending upon the choice of C measure.
AbuhassànA.BatesT. C. (2015). Grit: Distinguishing effortful persistence from conscientiousness. Journal of Individual Differences, 36, 205–214. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000175
2.
BowmanN. A.HillP. L.DensonN.BronkemaR. (2015). Keep on truckin’or stay the course? Exploring grit dimensions as differential predictors of educational achievement, satisfaction, and intentions. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6(6), 639–645. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550615574300
3.
CarsonS. H.PetersonJ. B.HigginsD. M. (2003). Decreased latent inhibition is associated with increased creative achievement in high-functioning individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(3), 499–506. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.3.499
4.
Chamorro-PremuzicT.&FurnhamA. (2003). Personality traits and academic examination performance. European Journal of Personality, 17(3), 237–250. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.473
5.
CostaP. T.McCraeR. R. (2010). NEO inventories professional manual: NEO-PI-3. NEO-FFI-3, NEO PI-R. Psychological Assessment Resources.
6.
CredéM.HarmsP.NiehorsterS.Gaye-ValentineA. (2012). An evaluation of the consequences of using short measures of the Big Five personality traits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(4), 874–888. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027403
7.
CredéM.TynanM. C.HarmsP. D. (2017). Much ado about grit: A meta-analytic synthesis of the grit literature. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(3), 492–511. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000102
8.
DuckworthA. L.PetersonC.MatthewsM. D.KellyD. R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087–1101. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087
9.
DuckworthA. L.QuinnP. D. (2009). Development and validation of the Short Grit Scale (GRIT-S). Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(2), 166–174. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223890802634290
10.
DumfartB.NeubauerA. C. (2016). Conscientiousness is the most powerful noncognitive predictor of school achievement in adolescents. Journal of Individual Differences, 37, 8–15. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000182
11.
GignacG. E.SzodoraiE. T. (2016). Effect size guidelines for individual differences researchers. Personality and Individual Differences, 102, 74–78. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.06.069
12.
GrayE. K.WatsonD. (2002). General and specific traits of personality and their relation to sleep and academic performance. Journal of Personality, 70(2), 177–206. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6494.05002
13.
HuL. T.BentlerP. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118
14.
IvcevicZ.BrackettM. (2014). Predicting school success: Comparing conscientiousness, grit, and emotion regulation ability. Journal of Research in Personality, 52, 29–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2014.06.005
15.
JohnO. P.SrivastavaS. (1999). The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In PervinL. A.JohnO. P. (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 102–138). Guilford Press.
16.
KuncelN. R.CredéM.ThomasL. L. (2005). The validity of self-reported grade point averages, class ranks, and test scores: A meta-analysis and review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 75(1), 63–82. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543075001063
17.
LievensF.CoetsierP.De FruytF.De MaeseneerJ. (2002). Medical students’ personality characteristics and academic performance: A five-factor model perspective. Medical Education, 36(11), 1050–1056. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2923.2002.01328.x
18.
MacCannC.RobertsR. D. (2010). Do time management, grit, and self-control relate to academic achievement independently of conscientiousness? In HicksR. E. (Ed.), Personality and individual differences: Current directions (pp. 79–90). Australian Academic Press.
19.
MeriacJ. P.SlifkaJ. S.LaBatL. R. (2015). Work ethic and grit: An examination of empirical redundancy. Personality and Individual Differences, 86, 401–405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.07.009
20.
MuenksK.WigfieldA.YangJ. S.O’NealC. R. (2017). How true is grit? Assessing its relations to high school and college students’ personality characteristics, self-regulation, engagement, and achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(5), 599–620. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000153
21.
NoftleE. E.RobinsR. W. (2007). Personality predictors of academic outcomes: Big Five correlates of GPA and SAT scores. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(1), 116–130. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.93.1.116
22.
O’ConnorM. C.PaunonenS. V. (2007). Big Five personality predictors of post-secondary academic performance. Personality and Individual Differences, 43(5), 971–990. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2007.03.017
23.
ParkD.YuA.BaelenR. N.TsukayamaE.DuckworthA. L. (2018). Fostering grit: Perceived school goal-structure predicts growth in grit and grades. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 55, 120–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2018.09.007
24.
PaunonenS. V.AshtonM. C. (2001). Big Five predictors of academic achievement. Journal of Research in Personality, 35(1), 78–90. https://doi.org/10.1006/jrpe.2000.2309
25.
PoropatA. E. (2009). A meta-analysis of the five-factor model of personality and academic performance. Psychological Bulletin, 135(2), 322–338. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014996
26.
RalphB. C.WammesJ. D.BarrN.SmilekD. (2017). Wandering minds and wavering goals: Examining the relation between mind wandering and grit in everyday life and the classroom. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale, 71(2), 120–132. https://doi.org/10.1037/cep0000116
27.
RichardsonM.AbrahamC.BondR. (2012). Psychological correlates of university students’ academic performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 138(2), 353–387. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026838
28.
SchmidtF. T.NagyG.FleckensteinJ.MöllerJ.RetelsdorfJ. (2018). Same same, but different? Relations between facets of conscientiousness and grit. European Journal of Personality, 32(6), 705–720. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2171
29.
SteinmayrR.WeidingerA. F.WigfieldA. (2018). Does students’ grit predict their school achievement above and beyond their personality, motivation, and engagement?Contemporary Educational Psychology, 53, 106–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2018.02.004
30.
StrayhornT. L. (2014). What role does grit play in the academic success of black male collegians at predominantly white institutions?Journal of African American Studies, 18(1), 1–10.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
