Peering into the box of grit: How does grit influence the engagement of undergraduates?

Abstract

Angela Duckworth's concept of grit has become a popular way for admissions leaders to incorporate non-cognitive traits into admissions decisions. Despite this popularity, the validity of grit has been questioned by numerous scholars. This study investigated the construct and concurrent validity of the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S) using a large multi-institutional sample of first year and senior students. It also examined the measurement invariance of Grit-S to examine if the scale varied across populations. The results indicate that the criterion validity of Grit-S is not suitable for usage in high-stakes situations. However, the scale seems to be relatively invariant across important subgroups. The concurrent validity analyses revealed that one dimension of grit, perseverance of effort, was significantly and positively correlated to the NSSE Engagement Indicators, a perceived gains scale, time spent studying, and GPA. However, the second dimension of grit was frequently negatively related to the same measures.