Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Harley, Heidi

Keywords

Grit, Graduation, College

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

Recent statistics show that a large portion of students who enter college in the United States do not graduate. Although there is a wealth of information exploring how demographic factors like gender, race, and socio-economic status and high school academic achievement affect graduation rates, there is a scarcity of research on how individual traits affect the likelihood of graduation. The present study explores the trait of grit, perseverance and passion for pursuing long-term goals, as a predictor of graduation at a small liberal arts college for the entering classes of 2002, 2003 and 2004. Grit was measured by coding the extracurricular portion of admissions applications for both long- term commitment and achievement (e.g., multi-year participation and leadership positions held). Demographic variables, SAT scores, and weighted high school grade point average (WHSGPA) were collected as well. Grit was modestly predicative of graduation, but WHSGPA was a stronger predictor. Because WHSGPA includes the difficulty of classes taken, it is hypothesized that a coding scheme examining grit specifically in academic pursuits would be more predictive of a student's likelihood of graduating.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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