Development and Validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit–S)

1 This article was downloaded by: [RAND Library]On: 19 October 2012, At: 10:34 Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UKJournal of Personality AssessmentPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: and Validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit S)Angela Lee Duckworth a & Patrick D. Quinn aa Department of Psychology, University of PennsylvaniaVersion of record first published: 10 Feb cite this article: Angela Lee Duckworth & Patrick D. Quinn (2009): Development and Validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit S), Journal of Personality Assessment, 91:2, 166-174To link to this article: SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLEFull terms and conditions of use: article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes.

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3 QUINND epartment of Psychology, University of PennsylvaniaIn this article, we introduce brief self-report and informant-report versions of the Grit Scale , which measures trait-level perseverance and passionfor long-term goals. The Short Grit Scale (Grit S) retains the 2-factor structure of the original Grit Scale (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly,2007) with 4 fewer items and improved psychometric properties. We present evidence for the Grit S s internal consistency, test retest stability,consensual validity with informant-report versions, and predictive validity. Among adults, the Grit S was associated with educational attainmentand fewer career changes. Among adolescents, the Grit S longitudinally predicted GPA and, inversely, hours watching television.

4 Among cadetsat the United States Military Academy, West Point, the Grit S predicted retention. Among Scripps National spelling Bee competitors, the Grit Spredicted final round attained, a relationship mediated by lifetime spelling is more often studied as an outcome than as a pre-dictor. For example, perseverance in difficult or impossible taskshas served as the dependent variable in studies of optimistic at-tribution style, self-efficacy, goal orientation, and depletion ofself-control resources (see, , Bandura, 1977; Baumeister,Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998; Elliott & Dweck, 1988;Muraven, Tice, & Baumeister, 1998; Seligman & Schulman,1986). However, the study of perseverance as a predictor, inparticular as a stable individual difference, was of keen interestto psychologists in the first half of the 20th century.

5 In a reviewof the existing literature of his day, Ryans (1939) concluded that the existence of a general trait of persistence, which permeatesall behavior of the organism, has not been established, thoughevidence both for and against such an assumption has been re-vealed (p. 737). Very recently, positive psychology has renewedinterest in the empirical study of character in general and in thetrait of perseverance in particular (Peterson & Seligman, 2004).Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, and Kelly (2007) introducedthe construct ofgrit,defined as trait-level perseverance and pas-sion for long-term goals, and showed that grit predicted achieve-ment in challenging domains over and beyond measures of tal-ent.

6 For instance, at the Military Academy, West Point,cadets higher in grit were less likely to drop out than their lessgritty peers, even when controlling for SAT scores, high schoolrank, and a measure of Big Five conscientiousness. In four sepa-rate samples, grit was found to be either orthogonal to or slightlyinversely correlated with et al. (2007) proposed that grit is distinct fromtraditionally measured facets of Big Five conscientiousness inits emphasis on stamina. In particular, grit entails the capacityto sustain both effort and interest in projects that take monthsor even longer to complete. Grit is also related to but distinctfrom need for achievement (nAchievement: McClelland, 1961).

7 Individuals high in grit do not swerve from their goals, even inthe absence of positive feedback. In contrast, McClelland (1985)noted thatReceived October 23, 2007; Revised July 22, D. Quinn is now at the University of Texas correspondence to Angela Lee Duckworth, Department of Psychol-ogy, University of Pennsylvania, 3701 Market St., Suite 209, Philadelphia, PA19104; Email: is ample evidence that the moderate challenge incentive is crucialfor individuals high innAchievement; they will work harder when thisincentive is present than when it is not present; that is, when tasks aretoo easyor too hard[italics added]. (p. 814)Duckworth et al. (2007) identified a two-factor structure forthe original 12-item self-report measure of grit (Grit O).

8 Thisstructure was consistent with the theory of grit as a compoundtrait comprising stamina in dimensions of interest and , the differential predictive validity of these two factorsfor various outcomes was not explored. Duckworth et al. did notexamine whether either factor predicted outcomes better thandid the other. Moreover, the model fit of the Grit O (comparativefit index [CFI]1=.83; root mean square error of approximation[RMSEA]2=.11) suggested room for undertook this investigation to validate a more efficientmeasure of grit. In Study 1, we identified items for the Short GritScale (Grit S) with the best overall predictive validity acrossfour samples originally presented in Duckworth et al.

9 (2007). InStudy 2, we used confirmatory factor analysis to test the two-factor structure of the Grit S in a novel Internet sample of adults,compared the relationships between the Grit S and Grit O andthe Big Five personality dimensions, and examined predictivevalidity for career changes and educational attainment. In Study3, we validated an informant version of the Grit S and estab-lished consensual validity. In Study 4, we measured the 1-year,test retest stability of the Grit S in a sample of , in Studies 5 and 6, we further tested the predictive va-lidity of the Grit S in two novel samples of West Point cadetsand National spelling Bee Study 1, we aimed to extract a subset of items from theGrit O to create a brief version (Grit S).

10 In selecting items, weconsidered predictive validity and replication of the two-factor1 CFI is a noncentrality index that compares the proposed model to theindependence is the parsimony adjusted index of the discrepancy between ob-served and implied by [RAND Library] at 10:34 19 October 2012 Short GRIT SCALE167 TABLE1. Item-level correlations with outcomes in Study PointWest Point2005 NationalIvy LeagueClass of 2008 Class of 2010 spelling BeeUndergraduateItemRetentionRetentionFi nal RoundaGPAC onsistency of often set a goal but later choose to pursue a different have been obsessed with a certain idea or project for a shorttime but later lost . have difficulty maintaining my focus on projects that takemore than a few months to ideas and projects sometimes distract me from My interests change from year to I become interested in new pursuits every few.