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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Aging Ment Health. 2021 May 10;26(6):1253–1260. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2021.1919990

Grit and Successful Aging in Older Adults

Emma Rhodes 1, Tania Giovannetti 2
PMCID: PMC9250755  NIHMSID: NIHMS1801315  PMID: 33970703

Abstract

Objective:

Grit is a noncognitive trait that has been shown to increase monotonically throughout adulthood and predict late-life cognitive performance. Less is known about the relation between grit and successful aging in older adults.

Participants and Methods:

Participants over 55-years-old (N = 185) completed a series of self-report surveys assessing demographics, grit (Short Grit Scale; Grit-S), physical and emotional functioning (Medical Outcomes Study Short Form Health Survey; SF-36), and changes in cognitive functioning (Everyday Cognition; ECog). Principal component analysis of the Grit-S was conducted, and then Pearson product moment correlations and multiple linear regressions were used to assess the relations between grit, age, and measures of successful aging.

Results:

Grit showed no association with age, even after controlling for education. Grit total score was positively associated with a variety of successful aging variables (SF-36; physical, emotional, and social functioning, energy, general health; all p’s <.001). Component analysis of the Grit-S showed a two-component solution representing Consistency and Perseverance. Both components predicted SF-36 measures of energy, general health, and emotional function (SF-36), but only Consistency predicted cognitive decline (ECog) and SF-36 measures of physical health and pain.

Conclusions:

Grit is stable throughout older adulthood and may serve as a protective factor that promotes active adaptation to the developmental challenges of aging. Consistency of interests appears to play an adaptive role in all facets of successful aging, including stability of cognitive functioning, while perseverance of effort may have a more circumscribed positive effect on physical and emotional well-being in older adults.

Keywords: Grit, successful aging, cognitive aging

Duckworth and colleagues have described grit as the dogged pursuit of long-term goals that requires persistence of effort and interest over time, in spite of setbacks and failure (Duckworth et al., 2007). Measures of grit account for variability in achievement not explained by innate qualities, such as intelligence and raw talent (Duckworth et al., 2007). Associations between grit and achievement have been demonstrated across a variety of contexts. For example, grit predicts educational and occupational success, including graduation of West Point cadets, Ivy League GPA, and job retention (Duckworth et al., 2007; Duckworth & Quinn, 2009). Grit also predicts personal achievement, such as superior performance in the National Spelling Bee, consistent engagement in a physical exercise routine, and marital stability (Duckworth et al., 2011; L. Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014; Reed et al., 2013). Importantly, grit not only predicts success to a greater degree than IQ, standardized achievement tests (e.g., SAT scores), and other relevant traits (e.g., physical fitness, conscientiousness), it is also malleable and can be cultivated in children and young adults, with positive downstream effects on effort and cognitive performance (Eskreis-Winkler, 2015). Most of the existing research on grit has focused on adolescent and young adult samples (Duckworth et al., 2012; Kleiman et al., 2013; Silvia et al., 2013), with few empirical studies of grit in older adults. The focus of this study is to characterize grit in older adults and determine its impact on successful aging.

Grit has been closely linked to conscientiousness, a Big Five personality trait characterized by a combination of competence, order, dutifulness, achievement striving, self-discipline, and deliberation that has similarly been identified as a predictor of occupational and academic success (Costa & McCrae, 1995; McCrae & Costa, 1987; Tupes & Christal, 1992). Some have argued that grit is simply a repackaging of conscientiousness, given the obvious conceptual similarities and strong correlations observed between conscientiousness and grit scores (Credé et al., 2017; Duckworth et al., 2007; Duckworth & Quinn, 2009; Meriac et al., 2015; Reed et al., 2013; Rimfeld et al., 2016). However, Duckworth argues that grit differs from conscientiousness in its emphasis on long-term goals, noting that an individual can be thorough, careful, and industrious (i.e., high in conscientiousness), but lack the perseverance required to strive for achievement of a stable, long-term goal (Duckworth et al., 2007), a position that is supported by studies showing that sustained interest in long terms goals is specific and unique to grit (Arco-Tirado et al., 2018; Sartori et al., 2017). Additionally, Duckworth’s finding that grit predicts life success outcomes above and beyond the contribution of conscientiousness and other Big Five personality factors is bolstered by consistent systematic review findings (Fernández-Martín et al., 2020) and replication in prospective, well-powered studies (Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014; Von Culin et al., 2014).

Research using self-report Grit Scales has identified two distinct factors of grit: consistency of interests over time and perseverance of effort. Consistency refers to the ability to remain focused on a particular activity or goal without diverting attention and effort to other goals, and perseverance refers to the tendency to work hard and overcome challenges and failures. A recent study examining the discriminant validity of the two grit factors (perseverance of effort and consistency of interest) relative to conscientiousness found significant overlap between consistency and conscientiousness, while perseverance loaded more strongly with measures of “effortful persistence” (Abuhassàn & Bates, 2015). Furthermore, perseverance has been found to be more strongly associated with motivation and achievement relative to consistency, as well as more predictive of life-long achievements, which supports the notion that perseverance accounts for the unique contribution of grit to achievement (Abuhassàn & Bates, 2015; Muenks et al., 2018). Similarly, a recent meta-analysis of the grit literature found that the perseverance facet of grit was more predictive of academic success compared to total grit score, the consistency facet of grit, and conscientiousness (Abuhassàn & Bates, 2015; Credé et al., 2017).

In cross-sectional studies grit has been shown to increase monotonically with age, even after controlling for level of education (Duckworth et al., 2007, Duckworth & Quinn, 2009). Duckworth and colleagues have proposed that the age-related increase in grit is due to repeated reinforcement from positive outcomes achieved through perseverance and consistency over time (2007). Although this hypothesis may explain the development of grit from adolescence to middle age, when most adults achieve peak educational and occupational attainment; it may not apply to older adults who have retired or face developmental challenges (i.e., physical and cognitive limitations) that reduce the likelihood of positive outcomes despite high effort and perseverance. In fact, the positive association between grit and age has been observed in limited samples of older adults, classified broadly by age as either 55–64 or 65 and older with no information on the maximum age within the 65 and older group, or the size, mean levels of education, or ratio of men to women within each group (Duckworth et al., 2007; Duckworth & Quinn, 2009). Additionally, relative to younger age groups, older adults (age 65+) showed the highest variability in grit scores, leaving open the possibility of a mean score skewed by high heterogeneity. Thus, we posit that the previously reported positive relation between grit and age may be more complex when grit is more comprehensively investigated in older adults.

The considerable heterogeneity in grit among older adults may shed light on why some age more successfully than others, especially in the context of disease and disability. Aging is a rich context for the study of grit, as it presents new developmental challenges and limitations that threaten independence and quality of life among even the highest of achievers. Successful aging refers generally to physical and psychological well-being among older adults (Depp & Jeste, 2006) but also includes methods and strategies to manage the physical, emotional, and social challenges of aging (Ouwehand et al., 2007). The ability to adapt to age-related losses, such as physical disability and cognitive decline, may represent a relatively unexplored facet of grit that is specific to older adults. There is evidence that grit measured in young adulthood may be protective of cognitive functioning later in life (Rhodes et al., 2017); however, less is known about the role of concurrently measured grit in various aspects of successful aging.

Despite a wealth of inter-disciplinary literature on successful aging, only one study has explored the association between grit and successful aging. A study of Korean older adults found that grit was associated with successful aging to a greater extent than physical functioning or socioeconomic status, suggesting that grittier older adults may continue to age successfully despite reduced physical functioning due to disease or disability and limited access to financial resources (Kim & Lee, 2015). Thus, high levels of grit may be protective of everyday functioning and promote active adaptation to the developmental challenges of aging, consistent with the literature in younger samples showing that grit is positively associated with a wide range of positive outcomes. Kim and Lee (2015) also reported a distinct factor structure of the commonly used Short Grit Scale (Grit-S) consisting of three factors: perseverance, passionate interests, and industriousness. After controlling for demographic variables, only perseverance was positively associated with self-reported successful aging. This is in line with findings from young adult samples that show inconsistencies in the dimensionality of the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S) across samples, with some studies supporting Duckworth’s original two-factor solution (i.e., consistency and perseverance) (Bowman et al., 2015; Li et al., 2018; Schmidt et al., 2017) and others favoring a unidimensional model representing only perseverance (Gonzalez et al., 2020; Guo et al., 2019; Jachimowicz et al., 2019; Muenks et al., 2017). Furthermore, the unique positive effect of perseverance reported by Kim and Lee (2015) is consistent with recent metanalytic findings that many of the positive outcomes associated with grit are driven primarily by perseverance, with little to no effect of consistency (Credé et al., 2017). However, it remains unclear if Kim and Lee’s (2015) findings generalize to North American older adults and to what degree grit may be differentially associated with various aspects of successful aging (e.g., physical health, emotional well-being, cognitive functioning, disability).

The purpose of the present study was to explore the role of grit in successful aging. The first aim was to examine the relations between age and grit in a sample of adults aged 55 and older. In line with previous findings from Duckworth et al., we hypothesized that age and grit would show a significant positive correlation, even after controlling for education. The second aim was to examine the factor structure of grit in an older adult sample from the United States. We hypothesized that grit would demonstrate a two-factor solution representing constructs related to consistency and perseverance previously identified by Duckworth et al. Finally, the third, exploratory aim was to assess the relations between grit, empirically-derived grit factors, and successful aging, using measures designed to capture multiple aspects of successful aging, including physical health, cognitive decline, emotional well-being, and social functioning. We hypothesized that grit would be positively associated with physical, cognitive, emotional, and social facets of successful aging. Associations between grit factors and facets of successful aging were exploratory.

Methods

Participants

Participants were recruited through flyers advertising the web address, which were distributed at local senior centers, senior living facilities, and lifelong learning institutes. Participants were also recruited online, via electronic newsletters for aging research, as well as public forums and discussion boards for senior interest groups. Participants were required to electronically indicate informed consent and enter their age before completing the survey. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki for protection of human subjects, with procedures approved by the Temple University institutional review board. All participants were required to be age 55 or older to be included in the present study.

Measures

Demographics Questionnaire.

Participants completed a brief demographics questionnaire assessing age, sex, educational attainment, marital status, and race/ethnicity.

Short Grit Scale (Grit-S).

The 8-item grit scale (Grit-S, Duckworth & Quinn, 2009) was used to measure self-reported grit. The Grit-S uses a 1 (Not like me at all) to 5 (Very much like me) Likert scale to capture attitudes and behaviors associated with the capacity for sustained effort in the face of adversity (e.g., I have overcome setbacks to conquer an important challenge) and the consistency of interests over time (e.g., I have been obsessed with a certain idea or project for a short time but later lost interest). The Grit-S has been shown to have satisfactory psychometric properties, including internal reliability, test-retest reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity (Robertson-Kraft & Duckworth, 2013). The total score is divided by the number of items; the maximum total score is 4 with higher scores reflecting more grit. The Grit-S showed adequate internal consistency (α = 0.76) in this sample.

Medical Outcomes Study Short Form Health Survey (SF-36).

The SF-36, a measure of health-related quality of life, was used to evaluate successful aging. The SF-36 is a 36-item self-report questionnaire that was used to quantify seven index scores representing the following dimensions of health status: physical functioning, emotional functioning, energy/vitality, perception of general health, social functioning, and bodily pain. A score from 0 (lowest possible health related quality of life) to 100 (highest possible health related quality of life) is derived for each index score. The SF-36 has been shown to have high reliability and validity, including in patients over the age of 65 (Brazier et al., 1992; Hayes et al., 1995; Lyons et al., 1994). All SF-36 subscales showed internal consistency ranging from good to excellent (all α’s > 0.80).

Everyday Cognition Scale (ECog).

Degree of functional cognitive decline was measured using the ECog (Farias et al., 2008). The ECog is a 39-item self-report questionnaire designed to assess functional changes in six cognitive domains: everyday memory, everyday language, everyday spatial abilities, everyday planning, everyday organization, and everyday divided attention. The ECog produces six domain scores, as well as a total summary score. On each item of the ECog, participants are asked to assess their own current level of functioning in comparison to how he/she functioned 10 years earlier. Each item on the ECog is rated on a four-point Likert scale (1= better or no change compared to 10 years earlier; 2 = questionable/occasionally worse; 3 = consistently a little worse; 4 = consistently much worse). The total summary score is the average rating across all items and ranges from 1 to 4, with higher scores reflecting greater cognitive decline. Literature on the ECog has shown evidence of content, convergent, discriminant, and external validity (Farias et al., 2008). The ECog showed good internal consistency (α = 0.81).

Statistical Analysis

Associations between grit and demographic variables were measured using Pearson product moment correlations. Partial correlation was used to assess the association between grit and age controlling for education. A sample of 84 participants is required to provide sufficient power (.80) to detect a medium-sized correlation (r = .30) with alpha at .05 (Bujang & Baharum, 2016). Similar sample size requirements were determined when power calculations were estimated for partial correlations according to computations for linear regressions with two predictors (Faul et al., 2009). Exploratory principal component analysis (PCA) of the Grit-S was performed with eigenvalue criterion >1 to determine the number of components and with varimax rotation to simplify interpretation. The conventional rule-of-thumb for determining the required sample size for PCA is 5–15 participants per variable. The Grit-S includes eight items, requiring a minimum of 40–120 participants (Abdi & Williams, 2010). Multiple linear regression models were used to model two empirically derived grit components and three demographic variables associated with successful aging. Regression models was tested for multicollinearity, homoscedasticity, independence of errors, normality of residuals, and sensitivity to extreme values using metrics for tolerance, variable inflation factor (VIF), Durbin-Watson test, and Cook’s distance as well as visual examination of standardized residuals and P-P plots. With five predictor variables, a sample size of 90 participants is required for sufficient power (.80) to detect a medium effect with alpha at .05 (Miles & Shevlin, 2001). When multiple analyses were performed for primary analyses, p-values were adjusted using Bonferroni correction. All analyses were performed using SPSS v.26.

Results

Participant Characteristics

One hundred eighty-five participants were recruited and provided more than sufficient power to test the proposed aims. Descriptive statistics for demographic and successful aging variables are shown in Table 1. Average scores on all measures, including the Grit-S, were consistent with published data from healthy older adults (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009). On the ECog, the group noted minimal changes in cognition over the past 10 years consistent with previous reports of healthy older adults (Farias et al., 2008); however, the ECog total score ranged from 1 to 3.08, indicating some participants noted mild cognitive decline consistent with scores obtained from individuals with MCI.

Table 1.

Participant characteristics

N=185 Mean (SD) Range
Sex (M:F) 39:146 -
Age 68.24 (0.41) 55 – 89
Education (yrs.) 17.47 (2.89) 10 – 22
Race, No. (% Caucasian) 161 (87%) -
Marital Status, No. (% Married) 111 (60%) -
Grit-S Total Score 3.72 (0.48) 2.42 – 5
ECog Total Score 1.39 (0.40) 1 – 3.08
SF-36 Physical Summary Score 79.59 (18.67) 21.25 – 100
SF-36 Emotional Summary Score 75.10 (18.17) 19.62 – 100
SF36 General Health 71.36 (18.29) 15 – 100
SF36 Energy/Fatigue 67.17 (17.89) 20 – 100
SF36 Emotional Well Being 76.67 (16.13) 8 – 100
SF36 Social Functioning 86.41 (19.70) 12.50 – 100
SF36 Pain 78.60 (19.16) 25 – 100
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Note: Grit-S = Short Grit Scale; ECog = Everyday Cognition Scale; SF36 = Medical Outcomes Study Short Form Health Survey

Grit, Age, and Other Demographic Factors

As shown in Figure 1, there was no meaningful relation between Grit-S Total Score and age. Pearson product moment correlation showed no significant association between Grit and age (r = −0.002, p = 0.98), even after controlling for education (r = −0.02, p = 0.79). Consistent with prior reports, grit showed a significant positive association with total years of education (r = 0.27, p < .001), and there was no difference in Grit-S total score between men and women, t(183) = −.86, p = 0.39 (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009).

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

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Grit-S Total Score as a Function of Age.

Note: Error band shows 95% Confidence Interval.

Principal Component Analysis

A PCA with varimax rotation of the eight items of the Grit-S was performed on data from all participants. The resulting model identified two components that accounted for 56.13 percent of variance (component 1, 28.15% of variance; component 2, 27.97% of variance). The results of a varimax rotation are shown in Table 2. The first factor consisted of Grit-S items related to consistency of interests over time (i.e., consistency) and the second factor consisted of items related to persistence of effort (i.e., perseverance). Total scores for the items that comprise each component were summed and showed strong internal consistency (Consistency Cronbach’s α = 0.74, Perseverance Cronbach’s α = 0.82). The mean Consistency score was 3.48 (SD = 0.79), and the mean Perseverance score was 3.79 (SD = 0.87). The grit components were weakly and positively correlated (r = 0.15, p = .031). One-hundred and eighty-five participants exceeds the rule-of-thumb guidelines for sample size with PCA analysis. Additionally, all factor loadings, shown in Table 2, were at above .60, suggesting the sample size was adequate. Finally, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (KMO) was .77, indicating an good sample size (Field, 2013).

Table 2.

Principal component analysis of the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S)

Grit-S Item Component 1-Consistency of Interest Component 2-Perseverance of Effort
1. New ideas distract me from previous ones* 0.753 0.106
2. Setbacks don’t discourage me 0.018 0.6
3. I have been obsessed with a certain project for a short time but later lost interest* 0.689 0.104
4. I am a hard worker −0.086 0.866
5. I often set a goal but later choose to pursue a different one* 0.738 −0.01
6. I have difficulty maintaining my focus on projects that take more than a few months* 0.738 0.111
7. I finish whatever I begin 0.292 0.639
8. I am diligent 0.17 0.828
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Note:

*

Reverse coded

Grit and Measures of Successful Aging

Pearson product moment correlations showed significant associations between Grit-S total scores, Ecog total score, and all SF-36 measures of successful aging; correlations remained significant even after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons (.05/8 = .006). Total Grit-S was inversely correlated with ECog total score (r = −0.37, p < .001) such that higher levels of grit were associated with less cognitive decline. Grit was positively associated with all index scores of the SF-36, which includes Physical (r = 0.30, p < .001) and Emotional Summary Scores (r = .44, p < .001), General Health (r = 0.29, p < .001), Energy (r = 0.44, p < .001), Emotional Well Being (r = 0.32, p < .001), Social Functioning (r = 0.31, p < .001), and Pain (r = 0.26, p < .001).

The impact of grit components (perseverance of effort and consistency of interests) on successful aging was assessed using multiple linear regression models (Table 3). After accounting for demographic variables (age, sex, education) and applying Bonferroni corrections for the number of predictors in each model (.05/6 = .008) (Perrett et al., 2006), higher Perseverance scores were associated with better SF-36 Emotional Summary Scores (β = 0.22, S.E. = 1.47, t = 3.07, p = .002), General Health (β = 0.23, S.E. = 1.59, t = 3.09, p = .002), and Energy (β = 0.31, S.E. = 1.45, t = 4.30, p < .001). Higher Consistency scores were associated with better SF-36 Physical (β = 0.23, S.E. = 1.93, t = 3.01, p = .003) and Emotional (β = 0.33, S.E. = 1.76, t = 4.72, p < .001) Summary Scores, Energy (β = 0.24, S.E. = 1.73, t = 3.41, p = .001), Emotional Well Being (β = 0.26, S.E. = 1.63, t = 3.52, p = .001), Social Functioning (β = 0.28, S.E. = 2.01, t = 3.75, p < .001), and Pain scores (β = 0.22, S.E. = 1.97, t = 2.97, p = .003), as well as lower ECog total scores (β = −0.34, S.E. = 0.38, t = −4.72, p < .001), reflecting less cognitive decline.

Table 3.

Summary of multiple linear regression models predicting successful aging

ECog SF-36 Physical Summary SF-36 Emotional Summary SF36 General Health SF36 Energy/Fatigue SF36 Emotional Well Being SF36 Social SF36 Pain
Model R2 0.16 0.32 0.21 0.10 0.20 0.12 0.12 0.09
F-statistic 14.84 8.49 18.72 17.80 17.98 9.21 10.04 8.14
p-value <.001 .003 <.001 .003 <.001 <.001 <.001 .006
DF 2, 174 2, 173 2, 173 2, 173 2, 173 2, 173 2, 173 2, 173
β (S.E.) β (S.E.) β (S.E.) β (S.E.) β (S.E.) β (S.E.) β (S.E.) β (S.E.)
Intercept 6.65* (0.34) 51.48* (16.63) 18.79 (15.18) 29.52 (16.37) 4.92 (14.88) 36.59 (14.11) 32.38 (17.38) 68.84* (17.01)
Age 0.004 (0.04) −0.05 (0.19) 0.03 (0.17) 0.04 (0.19) 0.09 (0.17) 0.06 (0.16) 0.06 (0.19) −0.04 (0.19)
Sex −0.98 (0.07) 0.04 (3.38) −0.02 (3.08) 0.78 (3.33) 0.00 (3.02) −0.06 (2.87) 0.02 (0.21) −0.06 (3.46)
Education 0.01 (0.01) 0.01 (0.49) 0.05 (0.44) −0.04 (0.48) 0.03 (0.43) 0.05 (0.41) 0.28 (0.51) −0.11 (0.49)
Consistency −0.34* (0.38) 0.23* (1.93) 0.33* (1.76) 0.15 (1.89) 0.24* (1.73) 0.26* (1.63) 0.28* (2.01) 0.22* (1.97)
Perseverance 0.15 (0.33) 0.17 (1.62) 0.22* (1.47) 0.23* (1.59) 0.31* (1.45) 0.14 (1.37) 0.13 (1.69) 0.17 (1.65)
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Note: ECog = Everyday Cognition Scale (higher scores = more cognitive decline); SF36 = Medical Outcomes Study Short Form Health Survey (higher scores = more successful aging)

*

p < .008

Discussion

The present study explored the relations between grit and age, the components of grit, and associations between grit and grit components (i.e., perseverance and consistency) and various measures of successful aging in a sample of North American adults over the age of 55. Contrary to previous research and our a priori hypothesis, we found no linear relation between grit and age, both with and without statistically controlling for the effects of education. This suggests that previous findings from Duckworth and colleagues (2007, 2009) showing an increase in grit over the lifespan is likely driven by an increase in grit from young adulthood to middle age rather than a monotonic increase in grit across all age groups. Our results show fairly consistent levels of grit across adults aged 55 and over. Thus, our findings cast doubt upon the notion that grit linearly increases with age and suggest that grit increases in midlife and then levels off, without further increases in later life. However, there is considerable heterogeneity in grit among older adults, and our results indicate that this variability is meaningful in terms of successful aging, as discussed below.

With regard to the component structure of the Grit-S, our data fit a two-component model identical to that reported by Duckworth & Quinn (2009) consisting of items reflecting perseverance of effort and consistency of interests. This was consistent with our hypothesis and other studies that have replicated Duckworth’s original two-factor model (Schmidt et al., 2017; Li et al., 2016), but contrary to a growing trend of studies that support a unidimensional model for the Grit-S that measures perseverance only (see Guo et al., 2019 for a more detailed discussion of mixed findings regarding the factor structure of the Grit-S in younger adult samples). As noted by others who argue that the Grit-S scale measures a single conceptual dimension of grit, the two grit components that we observed may reflect methodological artifacts related to the wording of Grit-S questions (Guo et al., 2019). The component reflecting Consistency is comprised of all negatively-worded items (e.g., “I have difficulty maintaining my focus on projects that take more than a few months to complete”), and the Perseverance component is comprised of all positively-worded items (e.g., “I am a hard worker”). Thus, it is possible that our two-component model could reflect valence differences rather than distinct grit constructs. Our findings are also inconsistent with the only other empirical study of grit in older adults, which found a three-factor solution comprised of items reflecting passionate interests, perseverance, and industriousness (Kim & Lee, 2015). Variability in underlying grit factors may reflect cultural differences between American and Korean older adults or culturally influenced cohort effects, as Kim & Lee (2015) posited that their sample of Korean older adults represented a generation with high levels of industriousness due to experiences in the Korean war and post-war economic development. It also may reflect different methodological artifacts associated with translation of the Grit-S into Korean and possible grammatical differences between languages, which could account for differences in factor structure (Kemmelmeier, 2016).

As hypothesized, Grit-S Total Score was moderately correlated with multiple markers of successful aging, including cognitive, physical, emotional, and social functioning. Additional aspects of health-related quality of life, including general health, pain, and energy also showed consistent positive correlations with the Grit-S total score. Overall these results demonstrate a promising link between grit, a malleable noncognitive factor, and established measures of successful aging, which have been shown to predict functional independence and longevity in older adults (Rhodes & Giovannetti, 2020).

Despite methodological concerns regarding item wording, associations between Grit-S components and measures of successful aging suggest differential effects of consistency and perseverance in the context of aging, especially with regard to cognitive functioning. Specifically, the consistency component showed a pattern of moderately strong positive associations with index scores reflecting physical, emotional, and social functioning, as well as an inverse association with self-reported cognitive decline, suggesting that older adults with more consistency in their passions and long-term goals endorsed greater stability in cognitive functioning over the last 10 years. In contrast, the perseverance component showed no meaningful association with physical health, pain, or self-reported cognitive decline after Bonferroni correction. This finding suggests that the positive effect of grit on physical health and cognitive functioning in older adults may be driven by consistency of interests and goals, while perseverance of effort may little effect.

Our finding of inconsistent/differential associations between grit components/factors and facets of successful aging is noteworthy for several reasons; first, it deviates from the recent metanalytic findings in younger adults that tout perseverance as the grit factor with primary predictive power for positive outcomes (Credé, 2019). Our results suggest that the effects of grit factors may be variable across the lifespan, with perseverance serving a more adaptive role in young and middle adults, who are more likely to have greater resources (e.g., time, energy, health, finances) to apply towards pursuing various long-term goals, whereas consistency may become more important for older adults, who may benefit from greater stability in goals and activities. The notion that high levels of perseverance may be maladaptive in older adults is consistent with recent experimental research showing that individuals with high levels of grit are more likely to persist at a difficult or impossible task even when persistence is detrimental to overall task performance, a concept known as costly perseverance (Lucas et al., 2015). This work offers a novel perspective on the potential drawbacks of grit in situations when achieving a specific goal is not possible. In some contexts, the constraints imposed by cognitive aging may preclude the accomplishment of some goals. Consequently, older adults who are high in gritty perseverance may have greater difficulty adapting to age-related cognitive decline than those with lower levels of perseverance, who may be less likely to persist in their efforts and more likely to disengage from blocked goals. The results of the multiple regression analyses also lend support to the conceptual differences between the two grit components, suggesting that for older adults, the two grit components may reflect more than just a methodological artifact due to positively and negatively worded items.

A major strength of the present study is the use of multiple well-validated measures of successful aging representing a variety of facets of this multi-dimensional construct. Given the diverse and multi-disciplinary nature of the successful aging literature, our findings are enhanced by the use of various outcome variables reflecting the multi-faceted nature of successful aging. Another methodological strength of this study is the treatment of age as a continuous variable in all statistical analyses, which allowed for a more in-depth exploration of age effects. Previous research on grit in older adults has classified age as a categorical variable, which may have concealed important age-related variability.

Despite these strengths, the study is limited by the use of self-report data, which is susceptible to response bias. Future research should include performance-based measures of cognitive and physical functioning, as well as collateral report from informants. Additionally, the external validity of the findings is limited by the sampling method and lack of ethnic diversity, unusually high educational attainment, and skewed sex distribution. In light of previous findings on demographic predictors of cognitive, emotional, and physical facets of successful aging, it is critically important to expand the investigation of grit in older adults to include greater representation of racial and ethnic minorities as well as individuals with lower levels of educational attainment.

The current study provides considerable evidence that grit is significantly and positively associated with various facets of successful aging, including established predictors of life satisfaction and health outcomes. The ability to adapt to age-related losses, such as physical disability and cognitive decline, may represent a previously unexplored facet of grit that is specific to older adults. This highlights the potential utility of grit as malleable trait that could be harnessed to promote adaptive functioning in late-life. Future research should seek to clarify the mechanisms through which grit functions as a protective factor in the context of healthy and pathological aging. Future studies also should examine the potential of novel, domain-specific measures of grit (i.e., focused on health and well-being) to offer even further insight into successful aging than the measure of general grit used in this study (Cormier et al., 2019).

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Center for the Humanities at Temple University. Tania Giovannetti’s time spent working on this project was supported in part by grants from the National Institute on Aging (R21AG060422, R01AG062503, R21AG066771).

Footnotes

Declaration of Interests

Dr. Rhodes and Dr. Giovannetti have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

References

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