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Sense of relatedness is linked to higher grit in a collectivist setting
Personality and Individual Differences 105 (2017) 135–138
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Personality and Individual Differences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid
Short Communication
Sense of relatedness is linked to higher grit in a collectivist setting Jesus Alfonso D. Datu ⁎ Centre for Advancement in Inclusive and Special Education, Division of Learning, Development, and Diversity, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 1 July 2016 Received in revised form 17 September 2016 Accepted 21 September 2016 Available online xxxx Keywords: Grit Consistency Perseverance Sense of relatedness
a b s t r a c t Grit (i.e., passion and perseverance for long-term goals) has been associated with positive educational, work, and well-being outcomes. However, limited research has been done to examine social and contextual antecedents of grit especially in non-Western settings. The aim of the current study was to assess the associations of relatedness to parents, teachers, and friends with grit dimensions (perseverance of effort and consistency of interests) and overall grit in 606 Filipino high school students. The results showed that sense of relatedness to teachers was linked to higher perseverance, consistency, and overall grit while relatedness to parents was associated with greater consistency and overall grit even after controlling for demographic variables. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Achieving success in school, work, sports, and other domains of human performance usually requires several months or years of effort and persistence. To describe individual differences in passion and perseverance for long-term goals, Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, and Kelly (2007) have conceptualized the ‘grit’ construct. The authors have proposed that there are two dimensions that characterized grit: perseverance of effort (striving harder to accomplish goals despite the hardships faced) and consistency of interests (showing steady interest over time). Although grit may be related to the achievement dimensions of conscientiousness (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009; Duckworth et al., 2007), the former is essentially distinct because it focuses on stamina which enable individuals to accomplish long-term goals with interests and perseverance. Duckworth et al. (2007) also notes that grit is distinct from the need for achievement (McClelland, 1961) because whereas the latter pertains to non-conscious eagerness to accomplish goals that yield instant feedback about performance, the former refers to conscious inclinations to complete long-term goals even without getting desirable feedback. Given the influence of grit on academic achievement, engagement, motivation, and even well-being indices (see Datu, Yuen, & Chen, 2016 for a review), previous research have focused on identifying antecedents of grit in various contexts. The extant literature shows that some psychological constructs may be linked to higher extent of grit. Particularly, recent research demonstrates that hope (Vela, Lu, Lenz, & Hinojosa, 2015), orientations to happiness like engagement (Von Culin, Tsukayama, & Duckworth, 2014), ⁎ Room 525 Meng Wah Complex, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong. E-mail address: [email protected].
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.09.039 0191-8869/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
positive affect (Hill, Burrow, & Bronk, 2016), and purpose commitment (Hill et al., 2016) are associated with greater determination and perseverance to pursue long-term goals. Whereas these studies may offer insights on the possible catalysts of grit, it seems that these investigations paid much attention to person-related correlates of grittiness and neglected social factors that may potentially cultivate grit especially in collectivist contexts. In the current study, sense of relatedness was operationalized as a social factor that may be linked to grit. Sense of relatedness refers to the extent to which a person feels accepted by different social partners (i.e., parents, teachers, and friends) (Furrer & Skinner, 2003). It is quite plausible to contend that sense of relatedness can foster grit, especially that this construct “may function as a motivational resource when children are faced with challenge or difficulties” (Furrer & Skinner, 2003, p.148). Previous studies have documented the advantageous role of sense of relatedness in the educational context as relatedness was associated with academic achievement, motivation, and engagement (Furrer & Skinner, 2003; Guay, Marsh, Senecal, & Dowson, 2008; Martin & Dowson, 2009). These findings indicate that relatedness may be linked to one's inclination to pursue and persevere towards completion of long-term goals. There are at least three lines of evidence that can support the conjecture sense of relatedness may be associated with higher grit. First, the self-system model of motivational development (Skinner, Furrer, Marchand, & Kindermann, 2008) posits that relatedness is a key selfsystem process that can serve as a person's important resource in a specific context. The model proposes that self-system processes (i.e., relatedness) may operate as a potential catalyst of optimal educational outcomes like engagement and motivation. It seems possible that grit is a psychological resource that can potentially crystallize as a result of meaningful interpersonal relationships. Second, the self-determination
136
J.A.D. Datu / Personality and Individual Differences 105 (2017) 135–138
theory argues that human beings have a fundamental need to establish and maintain harmonious relationship with others which they operationalized as relatedness (Deci & Ryan, 1985). The model posits that environmental conditions which enable satisfaction for the basic needs for relatedness and other psychological needs (i.e., autonomy and competence) may promote intrinsic motivation and adaptive functioning. Third, it is likely individuals who are situated in collectivist contexts (i.e., Philippines) may realize the benefits of relatedness because the self-construal theory (Markus & Kitayama, 1991) argues that unlike people in individualist societies who tend to endorse an independent self-construal, those in collectivist contexts tend to espouse an interdependent self-construal. Consequently, social and contextual factors strongly matter for a wide range of cognitive, emotional, and motivational outcomes in collectivist cultures. Furthermore, relatedness to different people has been linked to distinct psychological outcomes. To support this conjecture, getting support from parents (Ahmed, Minnaert, van der Werf, & Kuyper, 2010; Furrer & Skinner, 2003; Guay et al., 2008), and teachers (Ahmed et al., 2010; Furrer & Skinner, 2003; Guay et al., 2008) have been associated with adaptive motivation and other key educational outcomes. However whereas Furrer and Skinner (2003) found the relatedness to peers appears to be the strongest predictor of student engagement, Guay et al. (2008) found that support from peers was not linked to any outcome. Interestingly, compared to support from parents and peers, teacher support serves as the best predictor of enjoyment in the academic context (Ahmed et al., 2010). These results indicate that relatedness to parents, teachers, and peers may have differential influence on passion and perseverance for long-term goals. Hence, the objective of the present research was to assess the associations of relatedness with grit dimensions (i.e., perseverance of effort and consistency of interests) and overall grit in an interdependent setting. This study would be valuable in understanding how social relationships may be linked to passion and perseverance for long-term aspirations. To date, no research has been conducted to examine social or contextual correlates of grit especially in collectivist societies. To address this gap, the unique predictive influence of sense of relatedness to parents, teachers, and friends after controlling for demographic variables. We hypothesized that sense of relatedness to parents, teachers, and friends would positively predict perseverance of effort, consistency of interests, and overall grit even after controlling for relevant demographic variables (i.e., age and gender).
are sample items in the scale: “When I'm with my parents, I feel accepted”, and “When I'm with my teacher, I feel like someone special”. The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients of the relatedness to parents, teachers, and peers in the present study were 0.75, 0.65, and 0.74 respectively. The English version of the questionnaires was used in the study because English serves as the official medium of instruction in the Philippine context. 2.3. Procedures Prior to the survey administration, the author sought approval from the principal of the secondary school institution. After getting the approval to collect data, the author and class advisers distributed consent forms and administered the paper-and-pencil measures on grit and relatedness in the respective classes of the participants. 3. Results 3.1. Preliminary analysis The results of Cronbach's alpha reliability analyses, descriptive statistics, and correlational analyses are shown in Table 1. Whereas the reliability coefficients of the grit dimensions (perseverance of effort and consistency of interests) were relatively low, previous investigations which used Grit-S in the Philippine setting and other contexts yielded low Cronbach's alpha coefficients (See Datu, Valdez, & King, 2016; Datu, Yuen, & Chen, 2016 for a review). For instance, Duckworth and Quinn (2009) showed that the reliability coefficients of the perseverance effort dimension ranged from 0.65 to 0.78 for students who qualified in the final phase of the National Spelling Quiz Bee and undergraduate students of Ivy League universities. The patterns of correlation were consistent the theoretical expectations. Sense of relatedness to various social partners were significantly correlated with grit dimensions and overall grit score. 3.2. Hierarchical regression analyses
There were 606 Filipino secondary school students from a private high school in Metro Manila who participated in the study. The average age of the participants was 13.87 (S.D. = 1.26). There were 300 female and 305 male students. Yet, one student did not specify gender. Prior to the survey administration, the participants' parents were given passive consent forms and the participants were given active consent forms.
The unique predictive influence of sense of relatedness to parents, teachers, and friends on perseverance of effort, consistency of interests, and overall grit beyond the possible impact of demographic variables (i.e., age and gender) was explored through hierarchical regression analyses. In Step 1, demographic variables were entered as a predictor of the outcome variables. In Step 2, sense of relatedness to parents, teachers, and friends were entered as predictors of the said outcomes. Results showed that relatedness to teachers was positively associated with perseverance of effort (Model 1), consistency of interests (Model 2), and overall grit (Model 3) while relatedness to parents was positively linked to consistency of interests (Model 2) and overall grit (Model 3) even after controlling for the influence of demographic variables (See Table 2). Furthermore, it appears that relatedness to teachers had the strongest association with grit.
2.2. Measures
4. Discussion and conclusions
Grit was assessed through administering the 8-item Short Grit Scale or Grit-S (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009). The items were marked on a 5point likert scale (1 = Not like met at all; 5 = Very much like me). Sample items in the scale are: “New ideas and projects sometimes distract me from previous ones” (consistency of interests); and “I am a hard worker” (perseverance of effort). The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients of the perseverance of effort, consistency of interests, and overall grit were 0.60, 63, and 0.60 in the current research. To assess relatedness, the 12-item Sense of Relatedness Scale (Furrer & Skinner, 2003) was used in the study. The items were rated on a 4point likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree; 4 = Strongly agree). Here
The study aimed to assess the associations of sense of relatedness with grit dimensions in a collectivist setting. Sense of relatedness to distinct social partners (except for peer relatedness) was positively associated with grit dimensions even after controlling for the influence of relevant demographic variables. The results indicate that having positive relationships with teachers and parents may be linked to higher perseverance and passion for long-term goals. The first interesting aspect of the study points to the adaptive role of teacher relatedness which partly supported the hypothesis and corroborated the results from previous research regarding the strong influence of teacher relatedness on a wide range of educational outcomes (Ahmed
2. Methods 2.1. Participants
J.A.D. Datu / Personality and Individual Differences 105 (2017) 135–138
137
Table 1 Descriptive statistics and correlational coefficients among the variables. Variable
α
M
SD
–
0.75 0.65 0.74 0.60 0.63 0.60
3.32 3.08 3.28 3.53 2.97 3.25
0.65 0.60 0.65 0.65 0.72 0.48
0.08 −0.02
– –
13.87 –
1.26 –
r 1
2
3
4
5
1. Relatedness to parents 2. Relatedness to teachers 3. Relatedness to friends 4. Perseverance of effort 5. Consistency of interests 6. Grit
– 0.35⁎⁎⁎ 0.28⁎⁎⁎ 0.11⁎⁎ 0.14⁎⁎⁎ 0.18⁎⁎⁎
– 0.41⁎⁎⁎ 0.19⁎⁎⁎ 0.18⁎⁎⁎ 0.26⁎⁎⁎
– 0.10⁎ 0.04 0.10⁎
– 0.01 0.67⁎⁎⁎
– 0.74⁎⁎⁎
Control variables 7. Age 8. Gender
0.08⁎ 0.01
0.01 −0.04
0.12⁎⁎ −0.11⁎⁎
0.11⁎⁎ 0.001
0.004 −0.03
6
⁎ p b 0.05. ⁎⁎ p b 0.01. ⁎⁎⁎ p b 0.001.
et al., 2010; Murdock, 1999). In particular, sense of relatedness to teachers was associated with higher perseverance of effort, consistency of interests, and overall grit. These findings imply that the extent to which one feels accepted and supported by teachers may be linked to higher inclinations to espouse similar inclinations over time and persevere in times of difficulties. A potential reason for the beneficial associations of teacher relatedness with grit dimensions may be the relatively longer exposure of students (about 30 h in a week) in the school context (Hofferth & Sandberg, 2001). As students spend more time working on teacher-initiated academic tasks in the classroom, it is likely that teachers can play a critical role in building students' commitment and perseverance to accomplish long-term goals through designing academic tasks that require constant effort and determination (e.g., developing an investigative project in the Science class).
Table 2 Hierarchical regression analyses of sense of relatedness and demographic variables as predictors of perseverance of effort (Model 1), consistency of interests (Model 2), and overall grit construct (Model 3). Model
Variable
1
Step 1 Age Gender Step 2 Age Gender Relatedness to parents Relatedness to teachers Relatedness to friends Step 1 Age Gender Step 2 Age Gender Relatedness to parents Relatedness to teachers Relatedness to friends Step 1 Age Gender Step 2 Age Gender Relatedness to parents Relatedness to teachers Relatedness to friends
2
3
β
t
0.06⁎⁎ 0.01
2.81 0.10
0.06⁎⁎ 0.02 0.03 0.19⁎⁎⁎ 0.01
2.71 0.29 0.80 3.81 0.21
0.002 −0.04
0.037 −0.72
0.001 −0.042 0.11⁎ 0.21⁎⁎⁎ −0.07
0.037 −0.72 2.29 3.85 −1.46
0.30 −0.013
1.94 −0.35
0.28 −0.013 0.07⁎ 0.20⁎⁎⁎
1.88 −0.35 2.29 5.55 −0.97
−0.03
R2
ΔR2
0.013
0.010⁎
0.05
0.037⁎⁎⁎
0.001
0.001
0.045
0.044⁎⁎⁎
0.007
0.007
0.085
0.078⁎⁎⁎
Note: Model 1 = Perseverance of effort served as the outcome variable, Model 2 = Consistency of interests served as the outcome variable. ⁎⁎⁎ p b 0.001. ⁎⁎ p b 0.0. ⁎ p b 0.05.
Parental relatedness was associated with greater consistency of interests which supported previous studies on the advantageous effects of parental relatedness on various indices of academic functioning (Fan, 2001; Furrer & Skinner, 2003; Guay et al., 2008). This finding suggests that perceptions of encouragement and support from parents may be associated with higher students' inclinations to endorse a similar set of interests over time. A potential reason for this result is that high school students in the Philippine context are still dependent on their parents when making major decisions in life. However, the study found no association between sense of relatedness to peers and grit. This result appears to resemble the study of Guay et al. (2008) which shows that peer relatedness has not been linked to academic motivational constructs. This indicates that relatedness with peers may not function as a catalyst of determination and perseverance to complete long-term aspirations. It is plausible that peer relatedness may not matter for grit especially that relatedness to teachers and parents have been associated with concrete long-term educational benefits like longitudinal increases in academic engagement (Skinner et al., 2008). The findings of the current research provided further evidence regarding the salient role of social and contextual factors in the psychological functioning of individuals who are embedded in collectivist cultures. Existing theories on cultural-self construal argue that people with high levels of interdependent self-view are more likely than those with high independent self-view to depend on others or situations when engaging in various behaviors (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Vignoles et al., 2016). Cultural models on self-views can potentially elucidate why higher sense of relatedness may matter for grit among individuals in interdependent contexts. The study has some methodological limitations. As the present research was correlational in nature, it is invalid to draw causal inferences among sense of relatedness and grit dimensions. Future investigations can address this gap through designing longitudinal studies that will examine the causal ordering between relatedness and grit. Given that the study exclusively relied on self-report measures of relatedness, grit, and well-being, the findings may be prone to common method bias. This can be addressed in future research through including other-report or objective measures of the aforementioned psychological constructs. As the study recruited Filipino high school students, future research are recommended to select samples from other sociocultural settings to determine whether or not these results may be generalizable even in other cultural contexts. Even with the abovementioned methodological limitations, the study has theoretical and practical contributions. As regards to theory, the results offered preliminary evidence regarding the influence of sense of relatedness to distinct social partners on grit. The study proposes that having supportive and encouraging interpersonal relationships with teachers and parents matters for individual differences
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in passion and perseverance for long-term aspirations. Concerning practice, school psychologists, counselors, and teachers are highly encouraged to conceptualize and implement relatedness-oriented psychological interventions to boost students' determination to successfully achieve long-term academic endeavours. References Ahmed, W., Minnaert, A., van der Werf, G., & Kuyper, H. (2010). Perceived social support and early adolescents' achievement: The mediational roles of motivational beliefs and emotions. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39, 36–46. http://dx.doi.org/10. 1007/s10964-008-9367-7. Datu, J. A. D., Valdez, J. P. M., & King, R. B. (2016). Perseverance counts but consistency does not! Validating the short-grit scale in a collectivist setting. Current Psychology, 35, 121–130. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12144-015-9374-2. Datu, J. A. D., Yuen, M., & Chen, G. (2016). Grit and determination: A review of literature with implications for theory and research. Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 1–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jgc.2016.2. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum. Duckworth, A. L., & Quinn, P. D. (2009). Development and validation of the short grit scale (grit-S). Journal of Personality Assessment, 91, 166–174. Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 1087–1101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087. Fan, X. (2001). Parental involvement and students' academic achievement: A growth modeling analysis. The Journal of Experimental Education, 70, 27–61. http://dx.doi. org/10.1080/00220970109599497. Furrer, C., & Skinner, E. (2003). Sense of relatedness as a factor in children's academic engagement and performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, 148–162. http://dx. doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.95.1.148. Guay, F., Marsh, H. W., Senecal, C., & Dowson, M. (2008). Representations of relatedness with parents and friends and autonomous academic motivation during the late
adolescence–early adulthood period: Reciprocal or unidirectional effects. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 78, 621–637. http://dx.doi.org/10.1348/ 000709908X280971. Hill, P. L., Burrow, A. L., & Bronk, K. C. (2016). Persevering with positivity and purpose: An examination of purpose commitment and positive affect as predictors of grit. Journal of Happiness Studies, 17, 257–269. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9593-5. Hofferth, S. L., & Sandberg, J. F. (2001). How American children spend their time. Journal of Marriage and Family, 63, 295–308. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223890802634290. Markus, H., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224–253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ 0033-295X.98.2.224. Martin, A. J., & Dowson, M. (2009). Interpersonal relationships. Motivation, engagement, and achievement: Yields for theory, current issues, and educational practice. Review of Educational Research, 79, 327–365. http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/0034654308325583. McClelland, D. C. (1961). The achieving society. Oxford, England: Van Nostrand. Murdock, T. B. (1999). The social context of risk: Status and motivational predictors of alienation in middle school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 62–75. http://dx. doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.91.1.62. Skinner, E., Furrer, C., Marchand, G., & Kindermann, T. (2008). Engagement and disaffection in the classroom: Part of a larger motivational dynamic? Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 765–781. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0012840. Vela, J. C., Lu, M. T. P., Lenz, A. S., & Hinojosa, K. (2015). Positive psychology and familial factors as predictors of Latina/o students' psychological grit. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 37, 287–303. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0739986315588917. Vignoles, V. L., Owe, E., Becker, M., Smith, P. B., Easterbrook, M. J., Brown, R., ... Bond, M. H. (2016). Beyond the ‘east-west’ dichotomy: Global variations in cultural models of self-hood. Journal of Experimental Psychology. General, 145, 966–1000. http://dx.doi. org/10.1037/xge0000175. Von Culin, K., Tsukayama, E., & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). Unpacking grit: Motivational correlates of perseverance and passion for long-term goals. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 9, 306–312. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2014.898320.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Personality and Individual Differences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid
Short Communication
Sense of relatedness is linked to higher grit in a collectivist setting Jesus Alfonso D. Datu ⁎ Centre for Advancement in Inclusive and Special Education, Division of Learning, Development, and Diversity, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 1 July 2016 Received in revised form 17 September 2016 Accepted 21 September 2016 Available online xxxx Keywords: Grit Consistency Perseverance Sense of relatedness
a b s t r a c t Grit (i.e., passion and perseverance for long-term goals) has been associated with positive educational, work, and well-being outcomes. However, limited research has been done to examine social and contextual antecedents of grit especially in non-Western settings. The aim of the current study was to assess the associations of relatedness to parents, teachers, and friends with grit dimensions (perseverance of effort and consistency of interests) and overall grit in 606 Filipino high school students. The results showed that sense of relatedness to teachers was linked to higher perseverance, consistency, and overall grit while relatedness to parents was associated with greater consistency and overall grit even after controlling for demographic variables. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Achieving success in school, work, sports, and other domains of human performance usually requires several months or years of effort and persistence. To describe individual differences in passion and perseverance for long-term goals, Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, and Kelly (2007) have conceptualized the ‘grit’ construct. The authors have proposed that there are two dimensions that characterized grit: perseverance of effort (striving harder to accomplish goals despite the hardships faced) and consistency of interests (showing steady interest over time). Although grit may be related to the achievement dimensions of conscientiousness (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009; Duckworth et al., 2007), the former is essentially distinct because it focuses on stamina which enable individuals to accomplish long-term goals with interests and perseverance. Duckworth et al. (2007) also notes that grit is distinct from the need for achievement (McClelland, 1961) because whereas the latter pertains to non-conscious eagerness to accomplish goals that yield instant feedback about performance, the former refers to conscious inclinations to complete long-term goals even without getting desirable feedback. Given the influence of grit on academic achievement, engagement, motivation, and even well-being indices (see Datu, Yuen, & Chen, 2016 for a review), previous research have focused on identifying antecedents of grit in various contexts. The extant literature shows that some psychological constructs may be linked to higher extent of grit. Particularly, recent research demonstrates that hope (Vela, Lu, Lenz, & Hinojosa, 2015), orientations to happiness like engagement (Von Culin, Tsukayama, & Duckworth, 2014), ⁎ Room 525 Meng Wah Complex, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong. E-mail address: [email protected].
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.09.039 0191-8869/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
positive affect (Hill, Burrow, & Bronk, 2016), and purpose commitment (Hill et al., 2016) are associated with greater determination and perseverance to pursue long-term goals. Whereas these studies may offer insights on the possible catalysts of grit, it seems that these investigations paid much attention to person-related correlates of grittiness and neglected social factors that may potentially cultivate grit especially in collectivist contexts. In the current study, sense of relatedness was operationalized as a social factor that may be linked to grit. Sense of relatedness refers to the extent to which a person feels accepted by different social partners (i.e., parents, teachers, and friends) (Furrer & Skinner, 2003). It is quite plausible to contend that sense of relatedness can foster grit, especially that this construct “may function as a motivational resource when children are faced with challenge or difficulties” (Furrer & Skinner, 2003, p.148). Previous studies have documented the advantageous role of sense of relatedness in the educational context as relatedness was associated with academic achievement, motivation, and engagement (Furrer & Skinner, 2003; Guay, Marsh, Senecal, & Dowson, 2008; Martin & Dowson, 2009). These findings indicate that relatedness may be linked to one's inclination to pursue and persevere towards completion of long-term goals. There are at least three lines of evidence that can support the conjecture sense of relatedness may be associated with higher grit. First, the self-system model of motivational development (Skinner, Furrer, Marchand, & Kindermann, 2008) posits that relatedness is a key selfsystem process that can serve as a person's important resource in a specific context. The model proposes that self-system processes (i.e., relatedness) may operate as a potential catalyst of optimal educational outcomes like engagement and motivation. It seems possible that grit is a psychological resource that can potentially crystallize as a result of meaningful interpersonal relationships. Second, the self-determination
136
J.A.D. Datu / Personality and Individual Differences 105 (2017) 135–138
theory argues that human beings have a fundamental need to establish and maintain harmonious relationship with others which they operationalized as relatedness (Deci & Ryan, 1985). The model posits that environmental conditions which enable satisfaction for the basic needs for relatedness and other psychological needs (i.e., autonomy and competence) may promote intrinsic motivation and adaptive functioning. Third, it is likely individuals who are situated in collectivist contexts (i.e., Philippines) may realize the benefits of relatedness because the self-construal theory (Markus & Kitayama, 1991) argues that unlike people in individualist societies who tend to endorse an independent self-construal, those in collectivist contexts tend to espouse an interdependent self-construal. Consequently, social and contextual factors strongly matter for a wide range of cognitive, emotional, and motivational outcomes in collectivist cultures. Furthermore, relatedness to different people has been linked to distinct psychological outcomes. To support this conjecture, getting support from parents (Ahmed, Minnaert, van der Werf, & Kuyper, 2010; Furrer & Skinner, 2003; Guay et al., 2008), and teachers (Ahmed et al., 2010; Furrer & Skinner, 2003; Guay et al., 2008) have been associated with adaptive motivation and other key educational outcomes. However whereas Furrer and Skinner (2003) found the relatedness to peers appears to be the strongest predictor of student engagement, Guay et al. (2008) found that support from peers was not linked to any outcome. Interestingly, compared to support from parents and peers, teacher support serves as the best predictor of enjoyment in the academic context (Ahmed et al., 2010). These results indicate that relatedness to parents, teachers, and peers may have differential influence on passion and perseverance for long-term goals. Hence, the objective of the present research was to assess the associations of relatedness with grit dimensions (i.e., perseverance of effort and consistency of interests) and overall grit in an interdependent setting. This study would be valuable in understanding how social relationships may be linked to passion and perseverance for long-term aspirations. To date, no research has been conducted to examine social or contextual correlates of grit especially in collectivist societies. To address this gap, the unique predictive influence of sense of relatedness to parents, teachers, and friends after controlling for demographic variables. We hypothesized that sense of relatedness to parents, teachers, and friends would positively predict perseverance of effort, consistency of interests, and overall grit even after controlling for relevant demographic variables (i.e., age and gender).
are sample items in the scale: “When I'm with my parents, I feel accepted”, and “When I'm with my teacher, I feel like someone special”. The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients of the relatedness to parents, teachers, and peers in the present study were 0.75, 0.65, and 0.74 respectively. The English version of the questionnaires was used in the study because English serves as the official medium of instruction in the Philippine context. 2.3. Procedures Prior to the survey administration, the author sought approval from the principal of the secondary school institution. After getting the approval to collect data, the author and class advisers distributed consent forms and administered the paper-and-pencil measures on grit and relatedness in the respective classes of the participants. 3. Results 3.1. Preliminary analysis The results of Cronbach's alpha reliability analyses, descriptive statistics, and correlational analyses are shown in Table 1. Whereas the reliability coefficients of the grit dimensions (perseverance of effort and consistency of interests) were relatively low, previous investigations which used Grit-S in the Philippine setting and other contexts yielded low Cronbach's alpha coefficients (See Datu, Valdez, & King, 2016; Datu, Yuen, & Chen, 2016 for a review). For instance, Duckworth and Quinn (2009) showed that the reliability coefficients of the perseverance effort dimension ranged from 0.65 to 0.78 for students who qualified in the final phase of the National Spelling Quiz Bee and undergraduate students of Ivy League universities. The patterns of correlation were consistent the theoretical expectations. Sense of relatedness to various social partners were significantly correlated with grit dimensions and overall grit score. 3.2. Hierarchical regression analyses
There were 606 Filipino secondary school students from a private high school in Metro Manila who participated in the study. The average age of the participants was 13.87 (S.D. = 1.26). There were 300 female and 305 male students. Yet, one student did not specify gender. Prior to the survey administration, the participants' parents were given passive consent forms and the participants were given active consent forms.
The unique predictive influence of sense of relatedness to parents, teachers, and friends on perseverance of effort, consistency of interests, and overall grit beyond the possible impact of demographic variables (i.e., age and gender) was explored through hierarchical regression analyses. In Step 1, demographic variables were entered as a predictor of the outcome variables. In Step 2, sense of relatedness to parents, teachers, and friends were entered as predictors of the said outcomes. Results showed that relatedness to teachers was positively associated with perseverance of effort (Model 1), consistency of interests (Model 2), and overall grit (Model 3) while relatedness to parents was positively linked to consistency of interests (Model 2) and overall grit (Model 3) even after controlling for the influence of demographic variables (See Table 2). Furthermore, it appears that relatedness to teachers had the strongest association with grit.
2.2. Measures
4. Discussion and conclusions
Grit was assessed through administering the 8-item Short Grit Scale or Grit-S (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009). The items were marked on a 5point likert scale (1 = Not like met at all; 5 = Very much like me). Sample items in the scale are: “New ideas and projects sometimes distract me from previous ones” (consistency of interests); and “I am a hard worker” (perseverance of effort). The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients of the perseverance of effort, consistency of interests, and overall grit were 0.60, 63, and 0.60 in the current research. To assess relatedness, the 12-item Sense of Relatedness Scale (Furrer & Skinner, 2003) was used in the study. The items were rated on a 4point likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree; 4 = Strongly agree). Here
The study aimed to assess the associations of sense of relatedness with grit dimensions in a collectivist setting. Sense of relatedness to distinct social partners (except for peer relatedness) was positively associated with grit dimensions even after controlling for the influence of relevant demographic variables. The results indicate that having positive relationships with teachers and parents may be linked to higher perseverance and passion for long-term goals. The first interesting aspect of the study points to the adaptive role of teacher relatedness which partly supported the hypothesis and corroborated the results from previous research regarding the strong influence of teacher relatedness on a wide range of educational outcomes (Ahmed
2. Methods 2.1. Participants
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Table 1 Descriptive statistics and correlational coefficients among the variables. Variable
α
M
SD
–
0.75 0.65 0.74 0.60 0.63 0.60
3.32 3.08 3.28 3.53 2.97 3.25
0.65 0.60 0.65 0.65 0.72 0.48
0.08 −0.02
– –
13.87 –
1.26 –
r 1
2
3
4
5
1. Relatedness to parents 2. Relatedness to teachers 3. Relatedness to friends 4. Perseverance of effort 5. Consistency of interests 6. Grit
– 0.35⁎⁎⁎ 0.28⁎⁎⁎ 0.11⁎⁎ 0.14⁎⁎⁎ 0.18⁎⁎⁎
– 0.41⁎⁎⁎ 0.19⁎⁎⁎ 0.18⁎⁎⁎ 0.26⁎⁎⁎
– 0.10⁎ 0.04 0.10⁎
– 0.01 0.67⁎⁎⁎
– 0.74⁎⁎⁎
Control variables 7. Age 8. Gender
0.08⁎ 0.01
0.01 −0.04
0.12⁎⁎ −0.11⁎⁎
0.11⁎⁎ 0.001
0.004 −0.03
6
⁎ p b 0.05. ⁎⁎ p b 0.01. ⁎⁎⁎ p b 0.001.
et al., 2010; Murdock, 1999). In particular, sense of relatedness to teachers was associated with higher perseverance of effort, consistency of interests, and overall grit. These findings imply that the extent to which one feels accepted and supported by teachers may be linked to higher inclinations to espouse similar inclinations over time and persevere in times of difficulties. A potential reason for the beneficial associations of teacher relatedness with grit dimensions may be the relatively longer exposure of students (about 30 h in a week) in the school context (Hofferth & Sandberg, 2001). As students spend more time working on teacher-initiated academic tasks in the classroom, it is likely that teachers can play a critical role in building students' commitment and perseverance to accomplish long-term goals through designing academic tasks that require constant effort and determination (e.g., developing an investigative project in the Science class).
Table 2 Hierarchical regression analyses of sense of relatedness and demographic variables as predictors of perseverance of effort (Model 1), consistency of interests (Model 2), and overall grit construct (Model 3). Model
Variable
1
Step 1 Age Gender Step 2 Age Gender Relatedness to parents Relatedness to teachers Relatedness to friends Step 1 Age Gender Step 2 Age Gender Relatedness to parents Relatedness to teachers Relatedness to friends Step 1 Age Gender Step 2 Age Gender Relatedness to parents Relatedness to teachers Relatedness to friends
2
3
β
t
0.06⁎⁎ 0.01
2.81 0.10
0.06⁎⁎ 0.02 0.03 0.19⁎⁎⁎ 0.01
2.71 0.29 0.80 3.81 0.21
0.002 −0.04
0.037 −0.72
0.001 −0.042 0.11⁎ 0.21⁎⁎⁎ −0.07
0.037 −0.72 2.29 3.85 −1.46
0.30 −0.013
1.94 −0.35
0.28 −0.013 0.07⁎ 0.20⁎⁎⁎
1.88 −0.35 2.29 5.55 −0.97
−0.03
R2
ΔR2
0.013
0.010⁎
0.05
0.037⁎⁎⁎
0.001
0.001
0.045
0.044⁎⁎⁎
0.007
0.007
0.085
0.078⁎⁎⁎
Note: Model 1 = Perseverance of effort served as the outcome variable, Model 2 = Consistency of interests served as the outcome variable. ⁎⁎⁎ p b 0.001. ⁎⁎ p b 0.0. ⁎ p b 0.05.
Parental relatedness was associated with greater consistency of interests which supported previous studies on the advantageous effects of parental relatedness on various indices of academic functioning (Fan, 2001; Furrer & Skinner, 2003; Guay et al., 2008). This finding suggests that perceptions of encouragement and support from parents may be associated with higher students' inclinations to endorse a similar set of interests over time. A potential reason for this result is that high school students in the Philippine context are still dependent on their parents when making major decisions in life. However, the study found no association between sense of relatedness to peers and grit. This result appears to resemble the study of Guay et al. (2008) which shows that peer relatedness has not been linked to academic motivational constructs. This indicates that relatedness with peers may not function as a catalyst of determination and perseverance to complete long-term aspirations. It is plausible that peer relatedness may not matter for grit especially that relatedness to teachers and parents have been associated with concrete long-term educational benefits like longitudinal increases in academic engagement (Skinner et al., 2008). The findings of the current research provided further evidence regarding the salient role of social and contextual factors in the psychological functioning of individuals who are embedded in collectivist cultures. Existing theories on cultural-self construal argue that people with high levels of interdependent self-view are more likely than those with high independent self-view to depend on others or situations when engaging in various behaviors (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Vignoles et al., 2016). Cultural models on self-views can potentially elucidate why higher sense of relatedness may matter for grit among individuals in interdependent contexts. The study has some methodological limitations. As the present research was correlational in nature, it is invalid to draw causal inferences among sense of relatedness and grit dimensions. Future investigations can address this gap through designing longitudinal studies that will examine the causal ordering between relatedness and grit. Given that the study exclusively relied on self-report measures of relatedness, grit, and well-being, the findings may be prone to common method bias. This can be addressed in future research through including other-report or objective measures of the aforementioned psychological constructs. As the study recruited Filipino high school students, future research are recommended to select samples from other sociocultural settings to determine whether or not these results may be generalizable even in other cultural contexts. Even with the abovementioned methodological limitations, the study has theoretical and practical contributions. As regards to theory, the results offered preliminary evidence regarding the influence of sense of relatedness to distinct social partners on grit. The study proposes that having supportive and encouraging interpersonal relationships with teachers and parents matters for individual differences
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