Developing and validating a Domain-specific Grit Scale for College Athletic Students

The aim of this study was to create and validate a ten-item Domain-specific Grit Scale for College Athletic Students (DGSCAS) to assess the level of grit among college athletic students. College athletic students from a single independent college located in a northern city in China (526 participants at time 1 and 589 participants at time 2) were assessed according to the scale. Various analyses were conducted in this study, including exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and measurement invariance analysis across different sex and birthplaces. The results of the EFA revealed two factors: consistency of interests and perseverance of effort. The CFA results demonstrated acceptable fit indices (x2 = 160.048, df = 34, x2/df = 4.707, CFI = 0.983, TLI = 0.978, SRMR = 0.021, and RMSEA = 0.079). The scale exhibited satisfactory convergent validity and discriminant validity. The significant correlation of these factors with the Grit scale provided strong evidence of criterion-related validity. Measurement invariance analysis indicated that the scale performed consistently across different sex and birthplaces. Three limitations and corresponding recommendations were discussed, including sample heterogeneity, the lack of a unified test result as a criterion for predictive validity, and the cross-sectional design of the study. In conclusion, the DGSCAS is a practical and validated instrument that can be used to assess the level of grit among college athletic students in an educational context.

Academic self-efficacy, self-esteem, and grit in higher online education: Consistency of interests predicts academic success

Academic self-efficacy, self-esteem, and grit (i.e., perseverance of effort and consistency of interests) have all separately shown to predict academic success within traditional education. In higher online education, information on these relationships is lacking, while this group of learners is growing in size and importance. We therefore investigated the total as well as the unique predictive value of academic self-efficacy, self-esteem, and grit on academic success in higher online education. Moreover, mediation effects were investigated. Students of a higher online education university in the Netherlands participated (N = 2027, age 18–80 years) in this observational study. Participants filled out online questionnaires on the variables of interest and potential confounding variables at baseline. Academic success was measured objectively through information provided by the exam registration office and operationalized in three variables: exam attempt, study progress, and academic performance. Logistic regression analyses showed that consistency of interests significantly predicted exam attempt (B = .43, p < .001). Generalized multiple linear regression analyses with negative binomial distribution showed that consistency of interests was a significant predictor of study progress (B = .16, p < .001). Mixed model analyses revealed no significant predictors for academic performance (ps > .06). The fact that of our three predictors solely consistency of interests was found to be predictive for academic success indicates that online educational institutes should pay attention to consistency of interests of their students to improve the academic success rates.

Chinese English as a Foreign Language Teachers' Wellbeing and Motivation: The Role of Mindfulness

Teaching is a career with great instances of anxiety and exhaustion in all stages of education with particular difficulties associated with the attribute of language instruction. The notion of motivation might be a significant fundamental mechanism since demotivated educators are distressed due to the anxious feature of the instructing career. Moreover, educators’ wellbeing has been demonstrated to have a pivotal function in the path of instruction and learners’ success. On the other hand, to mitigate both motivation and wellbeing among teachers, one of the mental traits in this filed, namely, mindfulness can be effective as it is a technique that link to positive effects when used as an administrative strategy for alleviating stress and concern that bring about motivation and wellbeing. As a result, the purpose of the study is to investigate the predictor role of mindfulness on teachers’ motivation and wellbeing. In this study, 577 teachers (235 males and 342 females) Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers at different colleges, universities, and institutes in 13 provinces among which Jiangsu and Zhejiang province accounted for 26.69%, while other provinces made up 65.86% and 2 municipalities directly under the central government (Beijing and Chongqing; 7.45%). were kindly accepted to participate in the present study, and they answered the three questionnaires, namely, motivation, mindfulness, and wellbeing. The results of the study through a linear regression analysis indicated that teachers’ mindfulness could significantly predict both teachers’ wellbeing and motivation. According to the results, some pedagogical suggestions for the policymakers, educator trainers, materials developers, and language educators are offered. Ultimately, guidance for further studies is proposed to L2 scholars who are interested.

The Role of EFL Teachers' Self-Efficacy and Emotional Resilience in Appraisal of Learners' Success

Different elements in education should be taken into account in the development of education which affects learners' success. Educators are one of the main elements of any educational program, primarily in mainstream education, and there is considerable research recognizing this and the fact that educators have a significant effect on learners' success. Therefore, education can be enhanced simply by enhancing educators' effectiveness. Moreover, because of the importance of educators' factors, many researchers have emphasized educator attributes over the last 20 years. In an attempt to better explain the interaction between educator-related concepts in the setting of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), educator self-efficacy has a significant impact on the educators' everyday lives as well as on their learners and is regarded as an important factor in successful education and instruction. Furthermore, as one of the characteristics, teacher resilience is a multifaceted and developmental concept that has newly captured the interest of some scholars, specifically in the last 20 years, allowing educators not only to face difficult situations to survive but also to recover and prosper. To this end, the current review tries to emphasize these two significant factors in regulating learners' success. Corresponding to this review, some suggestions for further research are provided and pedagogical implications are proposed.

The Role of Grit on Students' Academic Success in Experiential Learning Context

Students' success as a cognitive issue in learning is prejudiced by proper learning approaches which improve their comprehension and achievement. In an attempt to scrutinize supplementary or alternate variables that envisage students' success, the researcher inspected a non-cognitive factor, namely grit, theorized as passion and perseverance due to its long-term quality, on the one hand, and its popularity among scholars in preceding decades on the other hand. Moreover, experiential learning (EL) is a momentous instructional approach used in the educational process to accelerate "do it and learn." The proposed review aims to gauge the EL approach as well as grit to regulate learners' educational success. Consequently, some pedagogical implications are presented for teachers, students, and syllabus designers.

Direct and indirect links between children's socio-economic status and education: pathways via mental health, attitude, and cognition

A child's socio-economic environment can profoundly affect their development. While existing literature focusses on simplified metrics and pair-wise relations between few variables, we aimed to capture complex interrelationships between several relevant domains using a broad assessment of 519 children aged 7-9 years. Our analyses comprised three multivariate techniques that complimented each other, and worked at different levels of granularity. First, an exploratory factor analysis (principal component analysis followed by varimax rotation) revealed that our sample varied along continuous dimensions of cognition, attitude and mental health (from parallel analysis); with potentially emerging dimensions speed and socio-economic status (passed Kaiser's criterion). Second, k-means cluster analysis showed that children did not group into discrete phenotypes. Third, a network analysis on the basis of bootstrapped partial correlations (confirmed by both cross-validated LASSO and multiple comparisons correction of binarised connection probabilities) uncovered how our developmental measures interconnected: educational outcomes (reading and maths fluency) were directly related to cognition (short-term memory, number sense, processing speed, inhibition). By contrast, mental health (anxiety and depression symptoms) and attitudes (conscientiousness, grit, growth mindset) showed indirect relationships with educational outcomes via cognition. Finally, socio-economic factors (neighbourhood deprivation, family affluence) related directly to educational outcomes, cognition, mental health, and even grit. In sum, cognition is a central cog through which mental health and attitude relate to educational outcomes. However, through direct relations with all components of developmental outcomes, socio-economic status acts as a great 'unequaliser'.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-021-02232-2.

Die Rolle von Beharrlichkeit und beständigem Interesse (Grit) für das Lernen in berufsbildenden Schulen

Zusammenfassung. In den letzten 10 Jahren wurden Beharrlichkeit und beständiges Interesse (Grit) verstärkt als zentrale, motivationale und volitionale Prädiktoren der akademischen Leistung propagiert und kritisch diskutiert. Wurde anfangs primär der direkte Zusammenhang untersucht, versuchen aktuellere Studien das komplexe Wirkungsgefüge von Grit im Verein mit anderen motivationalen Lernmerkmalen zu entwirren. Dennoch sind Studien zu indirekten Effekten von Grit auf Schülerleistungen rar. An einer Stichprobe von 393 Schülerinnen und Schülern kaufmännischer Schulen aus Österreich wurde geprüft, inwiefern individuelle Voraussetzungen erfolgreichen Lernens den positiven Zusammenhang zwischen den Grit-Dimensionen Beharrlichkeit und beständigem Interesse und der Schülerleistung mediieren. Befunde zeigen, dass insbesondere die Beharrlichkeit indirekt über das Vorwissen, das akademische Selbstkonzept, das Lernengagement und den Einsatz kognitiver Lernstrategien mit den Schülerleistungen zusammenhängt. Zudem wird der positive Zusammenhang zwischen beständigem Interesse und höheren Schülerleistungen über die Freiheit von Prüfungsangst vermittelt. Da die direkten Zusammenhänge zwischen Beharrlichkeit und den Schülerleistungen meist nur partiell mediiert werden, und Beharrlichkeit mit nahezu allen untersuchten individuellen Voraussetzungen erfolgreichen Lernens positiv assoziiert ist, kann für das Lernen im kaufmännischen Unterricht behauptet werden, dass Beharrlichkeit ein zentrales Konstrukt mit hohen Effekten – ähnlich dem akademischen Selbstkonzept und dem Lernengagement – darstellt. Dieser Befund wird vor dem Hintergrund der Grenzen der Studie kritisch diskutiert.

Grit personality trait of doctors and medical students in level 4 acute hospital

INTRODUCTION

GRIT, defined as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, is a personality trait that is key to academic success and career achievement. Doctors face significant challenges and exposure to stressful situations throughout their career and require high levels of grit and perseverance to achieve success and avoid burn-out. This study aimed to measure overall levels of grit among hospital doctors and medical students and to compare levels of Grit across specialties and career grades.

METHOD

ology: A cross-sectional survey was used to measure GRIT levels using the validated Short Grit Scale (GRIT-S). Hospital doctors and medical students at University Hospital Galway were asked to complete the questionnaire. Gender, age, grade, education, and speciality were recorded. Analysis was conducted using STATA V12.1™ and SPSS 25™.

RESULTS

378 questionnaires were completed with a participation rate of 75.6% eligible for analysis. The female: male ratio was 1.2:1, with a mean age of 29.6 ± 8.3 years. The mean Grit score of participants was 3.56 ± 0.55. Grit trait was independent of gender and increased with age and grade. Consultants had significantly higher mean Grit score (3.86 ± 0.59, p = 0.004). There was no difference between medical specialities, nor between graduate-entry and undergraduate medical students.

CONCLUSION

our results show that medical students and NCHDs alike have high levels of Grit compared to the general population, and the levels increase with career advancement, with the highest scores observed in consultants. This suggests that Grit might be of benefit as an adjunct in the selection process of applicants for training schemes and jobs that require high levels of resilience, as well as an adjunct to monitoring progress in training from a personality and mental health perspective.

The Relationship between Changes in GRIT, Taekwondo Ability, and Academic Achievement of University Students Majoring in Science and Engineering and Participating in Taekwondo Class

GRIT, which was conceptualized by the American psychologist Duckworth, was designed by grouping growth (G), resilience (R), intrinsic motivation (I), and tenacity (T), which means continuing to be patient and put in effort to achieve goals without being frustrated by adversity or failures experienced in the process of striving toward one's goals. The purpose of this study was to determine GRIT changes caused by participation of students majoring in science and engineering in taekwondo class. Effects of taekwondo ability on GRIT and academic achievement were also examined to determine structural relationships among taekwondo ability, GRIT, and academic achievement. We selected a total of 305 students (204 participants and 101 non-participants) as research subjects and conducted a GRIT (preliminary) measurement. After one-year of taekwondo class, we collected and statistically processed the data of GRIT (post) measurement, taekwondo ability, and academic achievement of the participants. Reliability analysis, technical statistics, paired sample t-test, correlation analysis, and path analysis were performed. Changes in the GRIT values of the participants were found to be greater than those of non-participants. It was also found that taekwondo ability, GRIT, and academic achievement had significant correlations with each other. Finally, it was found that the higher the taekwondo ability, the higher the academic achievement and the higher the GRIT. Moreover, the higher the GRIT, the higher the academic achievement. Taekwondo training increased the GRIT values of participants. In addition, the taekwondo ability had positive effects on GRIT and academic achievement. GRIT also had a positive effect on academic achievement. Thus, there were structural relationships among taekwondo ability, GRIT, and academic achievement.

Performance, Achievement, and Success in Psychological Research: Towards a More Transparent Use of the Still Ambiguous Terminology

The present study focused on the terms performance, achievement, and success that have often been used in an ambiguous manner in psychological research. The way in which the meaning of the domain-specific constructs referred to with the terms was established for measurement purposes was investigated on a sample of 262 articles that stemmed from 35 randomly selected journals covering the full range of psychological research. The operational definitions of the constructs referred to with the terms performance, achievement, and success were analysed and compared in both inter- and intra-domain fashion. Additionally, we assessed the match among the observed operational definitions and general conceptual definitions available in the extant literature. The results revealed terminology-related issues in educational and occupational research. Within these domains, lack of adherence to the multidimensionality of the constructs of academic performance, academic achievement, academic success, job performance, and career success was identified as a general issue. Further, the tendency to measure job performance via indicators based on self-rating was considered inadequate given the objective nature of the term performance. In educational research, the overlap of the academic performance, academic achievement, and academic success constructs was confirmed, resulting from the tendency to use GPA as a universal indicator of academic outcomes. Based on the present findings, we provided several recommendations in order to encourage future research towards a more transparent way of dealing with the particular constructs referred to with the terms performance, achievement, and success. We suppose the present study may help researchers in the full range of psychological disciplines to add clarity to their own research.

Beyond Passion and Perseverance: Review and Future Research Initiatives on the Science of Grit

Grit, which is originally conceptualized as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, has been associated with optimal performance. Although previous meta-analytic and systematic reviews summarized how grit relates to performance outcomes, they possess considerable shortcomings, such as (a) absence of summary on the association of grit with well-being outcomes; (b) absence of discussion on social, psychological, and emotional mechanisms linking grit to well-being; and (c) lack of elaboration on how alternative models can resolve fundamental problems in the grit construct. This integrative review provides a comprehensive summary on the link of grit to performance and well-being outcomes. Importantly, it elaborates how alternative models can potentially address flaws in the existing grit theory. Future research directions are discussed on how to move forward the science of grit.

Nurturing Grit among Medical Students

Objective:

To identify the learning strategies used by the medical students with high Grit for design and implementation of a three months course, to assist the medical students having low Grit.

Methods:

A mixed-method study with explanatory sequential design was followed by an intervention to improve Grit amongst first year students at Foundation University Medical College from March to August 2019. Non-probability convenience sampling was used in the Phase-I. In Phase-II, through purposive sampling, students with high score on GRIT were interviewed. The interview questions were validated and piloted for clarity. All interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematic analysis was done. The themes generated were used to design an intervention, which was implemented as a part of the curriculum for less Gritty students to see whether it can enhance Grit in them.

Results:

A total of 133 students participated out of which, 23(17%) had a high, whereas 10(7.5%) had a low level of Grit. Five themes generated from the transcripts, namely Planning, Metacognitive skills, Mastery learning, Cognitive strategies, and Self-regulation, that led the development of an intervention abbreviated as “RESET-P- GOALS”. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed that the intervention did elicit a statistically significant change in the Grit score in students having low Grit (Z = -2.8, p= 0.005).

Conclusion:

Good planning, Mastery learning and self-regulation are the reasons for success of Gritty students. The learning strategies with the name “RESET-P- GOALS” are effective in enhancing Grit in students with less score on Grit.

Measuring Perseverance and Passion in Distance Education Students: Psychometric Properties of the Grit Questionnaire and Associations With Academic Performance

With modern technological advances, distance education has become an increasingly important education delivery medium for, for example, the higher education provided by open universities. Among predictive factors of successful learning in distance education, the effects of non-cognitive skills are less explored. Grit, the dispositional tendency to sustain trait-level passion and long-term goals, has raised much research interest and gained importance for predicting academic achievement. The Grit Questionnaire, measuring Perseverance of Effort and Consistency of Interests, has been shown to be a reliable instrument in traditional university student populations. However, the measurement and predictive validity of this questionnaire is still unknown for adult distance education university students who differ from traditional students in various ways (e.g., having a wider range of student ages). Based on a sample of 2,027 students from a distance education university, this study assessed the psychometric properties of the two-factor structure grit measured by the Grit Questionnaire. The findings suggest that the short form of the Grit Questionnaire is a potentially useful assessment tool for measuring the grit construct for distance learning higher education and that the Consistency of Interests factor is especially relevant to consider the improvement of learning performance for distance education in terms of courses credit and exam attempts. The measurement precision of the Perseverance of Effort factor, however, should be improved in future research to provide higher measurement accuracy and broader item coverage.

The Strengths-Based Inclusive Theory of Work

This paper describes a new vocational theory—the strengths-based inclusive theory of work (S-BIT of Work). This theory addresses the ever-changing, dynamic nature of the world of work and integrates counseling psychology’s core values of emphasizing vocational psychology, strengths-based perspectives, multiculturalism, and social justice. We aim to provide a holistic vocational theory to inform career and work counseling practice by increasing clinicians’ cultural responsivity, promoting clients’ strengths and optimal functioning, and addressing a variety of vocational challenges across developmental stages. This first article in the Major Contribution includes a discussion of the S-BIT of Work’s core assumptions and theoretical propositions, research supporting the development of the S-BIT of Work, as well as future directions. The second and third articles in this Major Contribution discuss a model of fulfulling work, and the infusion of positive psychology and cultural responsivity in work counseling practice, respectively.