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True grit and genetics: Predicting academic achievement from personality.

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Rimfeld, Kaili, Kovas, Yulia, Dale, Philip S., Plomin, Robert·2016·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Abstract

Grit-perseverance and passion for long-term goals-has been shown to be a significant predictor of academic success, even after controlling for other personality factors. Here, for the first time, we use a U.K.-representative sample and a genetically sensitive design to unpack the etiology of Grit and its prediction of academic achievement in comparison to well-established personality traits. For 4,642 16-year-olds (2,321 twin pairs), we used the Grit-S scale (perseverance of effort and consistency of interest), along with the Big Five personality traits, to predict grades on the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exams, which are administered U.K.-wide at the end of compulsory education. Twin analyses of Grit perseverance yielded a heritability estimate of 37% (20% for consistency of interest) and no evidence for shared environmental influence. Personality, primarily conscientiousness, predicts about 6% of the variance in GCSE grades, but Grit adds little to this prediction. Moreover, multivariate twin analyses showed that roughly two-thirds of the GCSE prediction is mediated genetically. Grit perseverance of effort and Big Five conscientiousness are to a large extent the same trait both phenotypically (r = 0.53) and genetically (genetic correlation = 0.86). We conclude that the etiology of Grit is highly similar to other personality traits, not only in showing substantial genetic influence but also in showing no influence of shared environmental factors. Personality significantly predicts academic achievement, but Grit adds little phenotypically or genetically to the prediction of academic achievement beyond traditional personality factors, especially conscientiousness. (PsycINFO Database Record

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Metadata

Authors
Rimfeld, K., Kovas, Y., Dale, P. S., & Plomin, R.
Venue
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Published
2016-11
Volume
111
Issue
5
Pages
780-789
ISSN
  • 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1315
OpenAlex
W2276621897
Cited by
459
References
41
FWCI
72.75
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
hybrid

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: True grit and genetics: Predicting academic achievement from personality. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1037/pspp0000089
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Rimfeld, K., Kovas, Y., Dale, P. S., & Plomin, R. (2016). True grit and genetics: Predicting academic achievement from personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000089

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

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