Psychological Variables Related to Grit Among Adolescents in South Korea: A Longitudinal Study from Age 4 to 14

Abstract

Various studies examine the predictors of success, one of which is grit. Grit is defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007, p. 1087). Although research on grit has been carried out over the past decade, studies on Eastern populations are still lacking compared with studies on Western. In addition, most studies have been conducted with college students. Moreover, most studies focus on the effects of grit, but there has yet to be a study on the precedent factors of grit. Therefore, in the present study, Korean adolescents were examined, and the signs of grit were examined in longitudinal settings. A total of 106 Korean adolescents participated in this study. In Study 1, the relationships between implicit theories of intelligence, academic achievement, and grit were explored. All variables were collected via self-reporting. The results showed that individuals theories of intelligence and grit were related to academic achievement. In addition, the theory of intelligence was related to grit. Finally, grit fully mediated the relationship between the implicit belief of intelligence and academic achievements. In Study 2, signs of adolescents grit in adolescence were studied using 10-year longitudinal data. At age 4, parental education level, unrealistically optimistic beliefs, and the delay of gratification were measured. Parental education level was reported by the parents of the participants. Unrealistically optimistic beliefs were measured to investigate participants overestimated cognitive bias regarding their ability or future. Both the positive change of negative traits and the maintenance of positive traits were measured, adopted from Choi and Kwak (2007). The ability to delay gratification was assessed using a waiting period originally developed by Mischel and Baker (1975), whereby children waited in front of their desired sweets to obtain bigger rewards in the future. In addition, grit was measured by self-reporting when children turned 14 years old. Using stepwise regression analysis, we found that only the ability to delay gratification predicted grit in adolescence. While two factors of grit were analyzed independently, the delay of gratification only predicted perseverance of effort, not consistency of interest. In the present study, Korean adolescents grit was extensively examined. The results suggest the possibility of early intervention in children with a low ability to delay gratification to prevent low grit in adolescence. Moreover, this is the first empirical study in which the signs of grit have been longitudinally investigated from a developmental psychological perspective. The implications and directions for future research are discussed.