1. RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2012
www.PosterPresentations.com
Researchers have been interested in assessing which non-
cognitive factors (such as resilience, grit, hardiness,
procrastination, and conscientiousness) affect important
outcomes such as academic achievement and goal pursuit
persistence.
Understanding the antecedents to academic achievement
and persistence is important to understanding, predicting,
and improving students’ success in college and beyond.
Aim: The aim of the current work is to further investigate
which non-cognitive factors can be used to predict and
better understand academic achievement and goal pursuit
persistence.
Construct Definitions:
Resilience: an individual’s ability to positively adapt in
instances of trauma or to bounce back from stress
Grit: perseverance and passion for long term goals
Hardiness: the ability to effectively manage change or
stress
Procrastination: the absence of self-regulated performance
demonstrated by one’s tendency to avoid an activity under
one’s control
Conscientiousness: characterization as vigilant, careful,
and thorough
BACKGROUND
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
RQ1: Of the non-cognitive factors examined, resilience, hardiness, and conscientiousness were all positively related to
academic achievement (as measured by grade point average). Procrastination was negatively related to academic achievement.
Resilience
β=.13; p=.04
Hardiness
β=.31; p=.00
Procrastination
β=-.17; p=.01
Conscientiousness
β=.15; p=.02
RQ2: Of the non-cognitive factors examined, hardiness was the only factor related to goal pursuit persistence (as measured by
task score and time).
Hardiness
β=.14; p=.03
Table 1. Inter-item Correlation Matrix
Note. N = 247. * = p <.05, ** = p < .01.
RESULTS
CONCLUSIONS
Summary of Findings
• In line with previous research, hardiness, resilience,
conscientiousness and procrastination were here shown
to be related to academic achievement.
• Hardiness, resilience and conscientiousness are positively
related to GPA and procrastination is negatively related to
GPA, as expected.
• Hardiness had the strongest relationship to academic
achievement.
• We did not find grit to be related to academic
achievement.
• When looking at goal pursuit persistence, hardiness was
the only factor found to be related.
Implications
• This work demonstrates the value in assessing and
fostering four of the five non-cognitive factors in future
research and practice aimed at impacting academic
achievement.
• This work demonstrates the unique role hardiness plays
in the prediction and understanding of goal pursuit
persistence over time.
• Current findings can be used to direct future research
efforts aimed at influencing these desired outcomes.
• The current research may also be used to inform
decisions and efforts in practice.
Limitations
• The current sample is limited in scope and thus may only
be generalizable to populations it represents (e.g.
undergraduate students).
• Current tasks were presented to measure persistence,
however situations in which participants are more
invested or committed to a goal may demonstrate
different patterns of findings.
Future Research
• Future research should replicate this work across diverse
samples
• Theory and practice may benefit from research that
investigates the influence of these factors on additional
outcomes (e.g. career success and level of academic
completion attained)
REFERENCES
Creed, P. A., Conlon, E. G., & Dhaliwal, K. (2013). Revising the academic hardiness scale: Revision
and revalidation. Journal of Career Assessment, 21(4), 537-554.
Duckworth, A. L., & Quinn, P. D. (2009). Development and validation of the short grit scale (Grit-S).
Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(2), 166-174.
John, O., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical
perspectives. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp.
102-138). Ney York: Guilford Press.
Martin, A. J., & Marsh, H. W. (2006). Academic resilience and its psychological and educational
correlates: A construct validity approach. Psychology in Schools, 43(3), 267-281.
Tuckman, B. W., & Sexton, T. L., (1989). The effect of feedback on procrastination. Paper presented at
the meeting of the American Psychological Association, New Orleans, LA.
1: Which non-cognitive factors predict academic
achievement?
2: Which non-cognitive factors predict goal pursuit
persistence?
Michigan State University Department of Psychology
Ashlyn Lowe, Danielle King, & Dr. Ann Marie Ryan
Which Non-cognitive Factors Influence
Academic Achievement and Persistence?
METHOD
PARTICIPANTS
• N=247 undergraduate students
• Mean age = 19.65 (SD = 1.87)
• 78% Female
• 84% Caucasian
• 47.8% Currently Employed
PROCEDURE
Measures were presented and completed via an online
survey. Participants were presented with three lists of
impossible anagrams, one at a time, and were instructed to
invest attention and effort into solving the anagrams
presented. A timer, not visible to participants, was set on
each page to gather information on persistence (measured
by how long participants spent on each page). Participants
were also given the option to proceed to subsequent lists of
anagrams or quit the task after attempting each list of
anagrams (the second measure of persistence).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1. Age -
2. Gender 0.03 -
3. Resilience -0.01 -0.14* -
4. Grit -0.04 0.04 0.30** -
5. Hardiness -0.09 0.11 0.36** 0.52** -
6. Procrastination 0.03 0.00 -0.33** -0.70** -0.61** -
7. Conscientiousness 0.03 0.05 0.24** 0.53** 0.48** -0.60** -
8. GPA -0.17** -0.17** 0.14* 0.05 0.29** -0.17** 0.12 -
9. Task Score -0.07 0.09 0.00 0.06 0.14* 0.03 0.04 -0.06 -
10. Task Time 0.03 0.05 -0.02 0.11 0.14* -0.05 0.08 0.03 0.06 -
MEASURES
All questions were measured on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
Independent Variables
Resilience: (6 items; Martin & Marsh, 2006; α=.77)
Example question: I am good at dealing with setbacks at school
Grit: (12 items; Duckworth & Quinn, 2009; α=.73)
Example question: I have overcome setbacks to conquer an important challenge
Hardiness: (17 items; Creed et al., 2013; α=.78)
Example question: I find it difficult to bounce back from academic disappointment (reverse scored)
Procrastination: (16 items; Tuckman, 1991; α=.91)
Example question: I keep putting off improving my work habits
Conscientiousness: (10 items; John & Srivastava, 1999; α=.86)
Example question: I get chores done right away
Dependent Variables
GPA: Self-reported grade point average
Task Time: average amount of time spent attempting each list of impossible anagrams
Task Score: Out of three potential lists, the number of anagram lists that participant attempted
METHOD
Resilience
Hardiness
Conscientiousness
Procrastination
Academic
Achievement
Hardiness Persistence
-
+
+
+
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