Investigating Grit, Self-Regulated Learning, Motivation, and Achievement in Reading, Mathematics and Science: A Mediational and Cross-Cultural Study

Grit, or more specifically the perseverance dimension of grit, positively predicts academic achievement. Yet the mechanisms through which grit might lead to academic success remain less explored, particularly in cross-cultural research. The current study investigated such mechanisms by examining the possible mediating effects of self-regulated learning strategies (control, memorization, elaboration) and motivational beliefs (instrumental motivation and self-efficacy) on the predictive relations of students’ perseverance to their academic achievement in multiple school subjects (reading, mathematics and science). The sample for the study came from the PISA 2000 dataset and included 24,352 population representative 15-year-old students from six PISA-participating countries representing distinct cultures: East Asia (HongKong and the Republic of Korea) and English-speaking Western culture nations (Australia, New Zealand, Scotland and the US). Students’ perseverance positively predicted their strategy use, motivation, and achievement, and the effects were of similar magnitude across subject areas, but stronger in East Asian cultures. Mediation analysis indicated that motivation and self-regulated strategy use mediated the effect of perseverance on achievement; these effects were stronger in Asian cultures. There were cultural differences in which perseverance showed indirect effects through different mediators on achievement; self-efficacy and control strategy had positive and substantially stronger indirect effects in Western countries. Instrumental motivation, memorisation and elaboration strategy use showed more negative indirect effects in Western countries. The results provide important new information on the relationship between perseverance and achievement in different countries, cultures, and domains, and so have important implications for educational practice in these countries.