Adolescent academic achievement: A model of social support and grit

Abstract

Grit has been defined as passionate perseverance toward long‐term challenging goals and it is associated with various positive outcomes for youth, including academic achievement. However, less is known about these associations for the two facets of grit (i.e., perseverance of effort, consistency of interest) and few studies have examined the link between grit and perceived social support. The present study examined the group‐level demographic differences (i.e., gender, grade, socioeconomic status, and special education status) of grit in a high school sample (N = 1,077). In addition, direct associations between grit and perceived social support from multiple sources (i.e., teacher, classmate, parent) were examined, as well as a potential enhancing effect of social support as a moderator of the relation between grit and academic achievement. Results indicated positive associations among grit and its facets with social support from parents and classmates. Furthermore, the positive relation between grit and achievement was stronger for students reporting high social support from teachers, but not other sources (i.e., classmates, parents). Practical and theoretical implications for promoting student success are discussed.

COVID-19 Infection Risk and Depressive Symptoms Among Young Adults During Quarantine: The Moderating Role of Grit and Social Support

“…Moreover, according to the socioecological framework (Bronfenbrenner, 2001), a favorable social context may magnify the buffering effect of individual characteristics (e.g., grit) on depressive symptoms in young adults. For example, Clark et al (2020) found that the positive association between grit and academic achievement is stronger for high school students reporting high social support from teachers, explaining that when students perceive greater social support, they are more likely to study toward long-term goals with passion and achieve higher grades. Although this empirical finding gives us some possible indications, it is still unclear how those variables may contribute in interactive ways to the association between COVID-19 infection risk and depressive symptoms, as a study of high school students and academic achievement differs substantially from the context of young adults and their emotional reactions to quarantine.…”

Perceived Academic Social Influence from Parents, Peers, and Teachers Across Gender Groups: Scale Development

“…More recently, Clark et al (2020) adopted 36 survey items from the 60-item CASSS instrument (Kerres & Kilpatrick, 2002) for their investigation of the role of social support and grit on adolescents' academic achievement.…”

“…The shortened version of 36-item multidimensional social support measure had good reliability scores, alphas = 0.95, 0.96, and 0.96, respectively. However, Clark et al (2020) did not examine measurement of invariance as the participants of their study were limited to a single homogeneous adolescent group.…”

“…Empirical studies have found that adolescents' social norm from parents, friends, and teachers is strongly associated with academic behaviors regarding their math achievement (Lipnevich, MacCann, Krumm, Burrus, & Roberts, 2011;Walker, 2017). A significant body of research also has pointed out that social norm influence or support from parents, peers, and teachers either directly or indirectly impacts student motivation, engagement, and outcomes (Ahmed, Minnaert, Van, & Kuyper, 2010;Ansong, Okumu, Bowen, Walker, & Eisensmith, 2017;Clark, Dorio, Eldridge, Malecki, & Demaray, 2020;Lee & Smith, 1999;Pan, Zaff, & Donlan, 2017;Rosenfeld, Richman, & Bowen, 2000;Walker, 2017;Wentzel, 1998). Additionally, research evidence indicates that social support strategy such as encouragement from friends or teachers plays a crucial role in increasing social connectedness Asian Journal of Contemporary Education (Hamm & Faircloth, 2005) fostering psychological well-being of adolescents (e.g., self-efficacy and hope; Khan (2013)) and predicting academic achievement (Mu, Chen, & Duan, 2021).…”

The role of psychological and academic variables in predicting transition from primary to secondary education exam achievement in Turkey

“…First, in this study, the role of academic and psychological variables in the academic success of the national level exam has been discussed. Other factors related to academic performance, such as socioeconomic status (e.g., Saenz et al, 1999), personality traits (e.g., Wolfe & Johnson, 1995), cognitive ability (Harackiewicz et al, 2002b), grit (Clark et al, 2020), social focus in school (Jones & Mueller, 2017) and learning strategies (Loranger, 1994; Özkal & Çetingöz, 2006; Phakiti, 2003) were not included in this study. Further research with these variables may contribute to our knowledge of the national achievement test success.…”