Grit (personality trait)

Grit is a personality trait broadly defined as a nuanced blend of persistence and passion that many scholars, educators, and professional recruiters believe is essential to success. Authors Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval, in their 2015 book, Grit to Great: How Perseverance, Passion, and Pluck Take You from Ordinary to Extraordinary, use GRIT as an acronym for Guts, Resilience, Initiative, and Tenacity to explain the characteristic. Psychologist Angela Duckworth from the University of Pennsylvania has spent years studying highly successful people, and her research indicated that a person's ability to persevere in the face of adversity was a far better indicator of future success than intelligence, IQ, or educational attainment. Duckworth's 2013 TED Talk, "Grit: The Power and Passion of Perseverance," popularized the term and its value in the twenty-first century.

Overview

Grit as a useful educational tool has been a recurring theme in many popular novels by Mark Twain and Horatio Alger in the mid-nineteenth century. In Twain's novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the young protagonist learned more about life from his illiterate, enslaved friend than from those who had formally educated him. Alger, who had once worked as a private tutor for wealthy families, would often turn to stories of poor children as a tool to motivate rich children.

In modern times, grit—or more specifically, a lack thereof—has gained increased attention amongst middle- and upper-class parents, many of whom fear their children might not be tough enough to navigate through life's inevitable disappointments. Researchers have found this to be especially true in families who tend to coddle their children and protect them from disappointment. Duckworth's research indicates that exposing children to failure will lead to increased resolve and eventual success.

In her research, psychologist Madeline Levine found that child-rearing strategies in affluent families could lead to increased emotional problems for children. Wealthy parents tend to be cold and disconnected from their children, and they often put pressure on their children to grow up to be overachievers. Educators have found that the same parents pushing their children to succeed also tend to shield them from the types of experiences that can help them build character and grit, such as failure. In her 2006 book The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids, Levine writes about her studies of teenagers from affluent families and the emotional problems that many of them exhibit due to their lack of exposure to struggle and typical life experiences.

Many educators blame a rise in helicopter parents, or parents who are overly involved in their children's lives, for the lack of coping skills found in today's students. Many children of these types of parents never learned how to handle difficult situations. Educators fear this will leave them ill-equipped for workplace success because they lack the skills needed to make hard decisions.

Educator Dominic Randolph, headmaster at the Riverdale Country School in New York from 2007 to 2023, concurred that this elite educational background left him ill-prepared for the challenges of everyday life. After two years at Harvard University, he dropped out to work as a carpenter's assistant and travel in an attempt to find himself. His belief in the importance of character was shaped during this time. He brought the ideas of character and grit to Riverdale, which adopted an experimental program that rates its students by both traditional academic grades and character traits.

Studies into the mid-2020s, however, produced mixed findings about the effectiveness of grit in predicting academic and workplace success. Some studies suggested it might not be as significant as initially claimed, or that its impact can overlap with other personality factors. The theory of the importance of grit was also criticized for overlooking systemic barriers that affect people's success and risk blaming individuals for failures rooted in broader social, economic, or educational factors.

Bibliography

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Levine, Madeline. The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids. Harper, 2006.

Meltzer, Erica L. “Why “Grit” Failed.” The Critical Reader, 4 Aug. 2024, thecriticalreader.com/why-grit-failed/. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.

Perlis, Margaret M. "5 Characteristics of Grit: How Many Do You Have?" Forbes, 29 Oct. 2013, www.forbes.com/sites/margaretperlis/2013/10/29/5-characteristics-of-grit-what-it-is-why-you-need-it-and-do-you-have-it/#782db1464f7b. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.

Quast, Lisa. "Why Grit Is More Important than IQ When You're Trying to Become Successful." Forbes, 6 Mar. 2017, www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2017/03/06/why-grit-is-more-important-than-iq-when-youre-trying-to-become-successful/#246b87117e45. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.

Ris, Ethan W. "Grit: A Short History of a Useful Concept." Journal of Educational Controversy, vol. 10, no. 1, 2015.

Thaler, Linda Kaplan, and Robin Koval. Grit to Great: How Perseverance, Passion, and Pluck Take You from Ordinary to Extraordinary. Crown Business, 2015.

Tough, Paul. "What if the Secret to Success Is Failure?" The New York Times Magazine, 14 Sept. 2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/magazine/what-if-the-secret-to-success-is-failure.html. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
Wang, Song, et al. "Editorial: New Advances in Grit Research: A Multidisciplinary Perspective." Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 13, 2022, doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.967591. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.

Williams, Jenny. "What Is Grit, Why Kids Need It, and How You Can Foster It." A Fine Parent, afineparent.com/building-character/what-is-grit.html. Accessed 7 Nov 2025.

Yu, Youqing, et al. "True Grit in Learning Math: The Math Anxiety-Achievement Link Is Mediated by Math-Specific Grit." Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 12, 2021, doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.645793. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.