Measuring Grit Among First-Generation College Students: A Psychometric Analysis

Midkiff, Brooke; Langer, Michelle M.; Demetriou, Cynthia; Panter, A. T.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-56294-0_35

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…In case of Grit-S, the second-order theoretical structure does not hold in our sample as it is not identified. A two-factor model supported by the recent literature (Credé et al 2017;Midkiff et al 2017) provides good fit with the data (RMSEA: 0.059, CFI: 0.964, TLI: 0.947). We use factor score from the six-factor oblique model for Big Five and from the two-factor model for Grit-S in multivariate analyses presented in the paper.…”

Section: Personalitysupporting

confidence: 65%

Personality, cognitive skills and life outcomes: evidence from the Polish follow-up study to PIAAC

Palczyńska

Świst

2018

Large-scale Assess Educ

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Background: There is a growing literature providing evidence on the importance of non-cognitive skills for life outcomes. However, to date there is limited evidence on the gains from incorporating such measures into large-scale competence surveys. Methods: We investigate the relationship between personality traits and eight important life outcomes: educational attainment, labour market participation, employability, wages, job satisfaction, health, trust and life satisfaction measured in the Polish followup study to PIAAC. The study assesses two short scales: the Big Five Inventory and Grit. First, we compare explanatory power of personality traits to that of cognitive skills measured by PIAAC. Second, an incremental validity of Grit after controlling for the Big Five dimensions is assessed. Results: The analyses show that differences in personality traits are important in explaining differences in life outcomes. Educational attainment is more strongly related to cognitive skills, while for wages, the explanatory power of personality and cognitive skills is similar. For most of the subjective outcomes, the Big Five traits outperform cognitive skills in predictive power. Conscientiousness is positively related to most of the outcomes analysed while Neuroticism has a negative relationship. After controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and cognitive skills, Big Five traits add explanatory power to all models except for employability. Grit explains some additional variation in educational attainment and in a number of subjective outcomes: health, trust, job and life satisfaction, even after adjusting for the effects of cognitive skills and Big Five traits. Conclusions: Given the potential benefits and relatively small burden on respondents in terms of required time it seems advisable to incorporate measures of personality traits into competence surveys as they contribute to explaining the variability in policyrelevant outcomes. The use of the Big Five Inventory seems preferable to Grit when a broad range of life outcomes is of interest, as the former covers multiple aspects of personality. However, using both scales offers an improvement in explanatory power.

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Section: Personalitysupporting

confidence: 65%

Personality, cognitive skills and life outcomes: evidence from the Polish follow-up study to PIAAC

Palczyńska

Świst

2018

Large-scale Assess Educ

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“…The change in the sign of regression coefficient of CI on the outcome suggests a multicollinearity issue between PE and CI. We conducted a post hoc analysis to partial out the predictive validity of PE and CI when they are calibrated separately using one-factor models (i.e., the four CI items are used to calculate CI factor scores in one model and the four PE items are used to calculate PE factor scores in a separate model; see Midkiff et al, 2017 for a similar approach). The results, which appear in Table 5, indicate that when CI factor scores are calculated separately from PE factor scores, they do not significantly predict math ( ␤ ϭ 0.07, SE ϭ 0.04) or science grades ( ␤ ϭ 0.02, SE ϭ 0.04).…”

Section: Hypothesis 3: Predicting Students' Grades From the Grit-smentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Steinmayr, Weidinger, and Wigfield (2018) conducted exploratory factor analyses (EFA) on German adolescents’ responses to a German version of the grit scale and found that a correlated two-factor model (also known as simple structure model) best fit the data 1 . Using an item response theory (IRT) approach to factor analyses, Midkiff, Langer, Demetriou, and Panter (2017) found (in a sample of first-generation college students) that a unidimensional model of each subscale separately (CI or PE) was a better representation of grit than a bifactor model (Gibbons & Hedeker, 1992), based on the item parameter estimates and absolute model fits. Muenks et al (2017), however, found that a bifactor structure provided the best fit among college students.…”

Section: The Factor Structure Of Grit: More Questions Than Answersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, treating the item responses as continuous is not advisable, because Likert scales are ordinal and not interval (i.e., the distance between categories are not equal; Jakobsson, 2004; Jamieson, 2004; Knapp, 1990). Muenks et al (2017) and Midkiff et al (2017) were the first to use the item factor analytic approach using multidimensional item response theory (MIRT 2 ; Reise, Moore, & Haviland, 2010) to analyze the factor structure of grit. MIRT treats item responses as categorical (i.e., assuming unequal intervals between each response option; Jamieson, 2004) as opposed to continuous (i.e., assuming equal intervals between each response option).…”

Section: The Factor Structure Of Grit: More Questions Than Answersmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Grit: The long and short of it.

Morell¹,

Yang²,

Gladstone³

et al. 2021

Journal of Educational Psychology

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Grit is defined as passion and perseverance for achieving long-term goals and consists of two proposed subcomponents: consistency of interests and perseverance of effort. It has become a much-discussed construct even though research on its underlying factor structure has produced inconclusive results. Furthermore, grit as measured by its most frequently used measure, the Grit-S, does not clearly define "long term" or include the word passion. In addition, only a few studies have looked at factor structure variation and predictive validity of grit in different age and cultural groups. We examined, using state of the art multidimensional item response models and structural equation models, the factor structure of both the Grit-S and a newly developed scale (LT-Grit scale) that specifies what is meant by long term. Participants included 1,250 U.S. high school students, 600 U.S. college students, and 500 Korean college students. We found varying factor structures for the Grit-S and a stable one-factor structure for LT-Grit, across age and culture. Perseverance of effort as measured by the Grit-S was the strongest predictor of grades in the three samples. LT-Grit predicted grades only in the U.S. high school and Korean college samples. Thus, there is no evidence that a consistent grit factor or factors exist across age and culture. Educational Impact and Implications StatementGrit is defined as individuals' passion and perseverance for achieving long-term goals. Over the last 10ϩ years it has received much attention in the popular press and from education policymakers despite the lack of consensus on its exact meaning or how strongly it relates to academic achievement. We investigated (using state of the art data analytic techniques) how similar or different grit was in high school and college students and in two different cultures (Korea and the U.S) and how strongly its two proposed components, perseverance of effort (PE) and consistency of interests (CI), relate to students' grades. We found differences in the nature of grit in the different groups, and also that PE related more strongly to achievement than did CI. A main implication of our results is that calls to intervene to improve students' overall grit as a way to enhance their achievement are at best premature and at worst a mistake given our findings and those of others.

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“…However, theory concerning grit is still in a relatively nascent stage (e.g. Crede et al, 2017;Datu et al, 2017;Midkiff et al, 2017) and this is the first reported study of grit in leadership. As a result, an exploratory approach was adopted, with the goal of examining how leaders' grit was related to a wide range of leadership behavior.…”

Section: Gritmentioning

confidence: 99%

How and when does grit influence leaders’ behavior?

Caza

Posner

2019

LODJ

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of grit, which is the tendency to pursue long-term goals with perseverance and continuing passion, on leaders’ self-reported behavior in terms of role modeling and innovating, as well as inspiring, empowering and supporting followers. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from an international sample of 3,702 leaders in work and non-work contexts. They reported their level of grit and how frequently they engaged in five leadership practices. Moderation analysis was used to test the influence of grit on leadership behaviors across contexts. Findings High grit leaders reported more frequent role modeling and innovating behaviors, but less inspiring behavior. Grit’s effect on empowering behaviors depended on the context; grit caused leaders to empower followers more in non-work contexts, but not in work-related ones. Research limitations/implications That grit is an important predictor of leadership behavior yields both practical and theoretical implications. For practice, the results suggest that grit is a desirable trait in managers, corresponding with their greater use of various leadership behaviors. For theory, the results suggest that part of the effect of traits in leadership arises from influencing the frequency with which leaders engage in particular behaviors. Originality/value This is the first study to examine grit’s role in leadership, and it has practical and theoretical implications. For practice, the results suggest that grit is a desirable trait in leaders, but one which requires unique supports from the leader’s environment. For theory, the results begin to fill an important gap. It is well-established that personality influences leadership outcomes, but it remains uncertain how and when. The current study suggests how, since traits influence the frequency with which leaders engage in particular behaviors, and begins to define when, highlighting differences between work and non-work contexts.

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Measuring Grit Among First-Generation College Students: A Psychometric Analysis

Cited by 10 publications

References 19 publications

Personality, cognitive skills and life outcomes: evidence from the Polish follow-up study to PIAAC

Personality, cognitive skills and life outcomes: evidence from the Polish follow-up study to PIAAC

Grit: The long and short of it.

How and when does grit influence leaders’ behavior?

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