The Relationship between Grit and Academic, Military and Physical Performance at the United States Military Academy
Issue Date
2012-12-31Author
Buller, Eric F.
Publisher
University of Kansas
Format
79 pages
Type
Dissertation
Degree Level
Ed.D.
Discipline
Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
Rights
This item is protected by copyright and unless otherwise specified the copyright of this thesis/dissertation is held by the author.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Perseverance (persistence) is a personality trait that has been historically measured through the presentation of difficult or impossible tasks and then observations made as to how long an individual continues to attempt to solve the problem or complete the task. The determination of perseverance was then made after the attempt but there were few reliable methods to predict the level of perseverance before the effort was given. This study seeks to assess whether perseverance can be discerned during the admissions process and utilizes the recently developed and validated Grit Scale, a 12-question instrument that measures trait-level perseverance and passion for long-term goals. The Grit Scale was given to the United States Military Academy class of 2008 (N= 968) during initial summer training and the graduation outcomes were collected four years later. Controlling for gender and ethnicity, Grit demonstrated a statistically significant relationship with academic achievement, as measured by cumulative grade point average at graduation. In comparison with other traditional admissions predictors (SAT scores and High School Rank), Grit's impact on the variability of grade point averages was again significant, however, not as powerful a predictor as the traditional predictors. Grit was, however, better at predicting higher achievement in the Academy-specific outcomes of military and physical performance scores. Thus, Grit should be considered a complementary predicator of academic achievement with the traditional predictors of SAT scores and high school rank to provide a more detailed profile of admissions candidates.
Collections
- Dissertations [4701]
- Education Dissertations and Theses [1065]
Items in KU ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
We want to hear from you! Please share your stories about how Open Access to this item benefits YOU.