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Updated: Oct 1, 2025

Using Cholesky Decomposition to Explore Individual Differences in Longitudinal Relations between Reading Skills
Published on: September 17, 2019
Grit increases strongly in early childhood and is related to parental background
Matthias Sutter1,2,3, Anna Untertrifaller4, Claudia Zoller5
1Max Planck Institute for Research On Collective Goods, Bonn, Germany. matthias.sutter@coll.mpg.de.
Abstract:
Grit has been identified as a very important non-cognitive skill that is positively related to educational achievements and labor market success. Recently, it has also been found to be malleable through interventions in primary schools. Yet, little is still known about its development in early childhood and the influence of family background. We present an experiment with 429 children, aged 3-6 years. We measure the level of grit as children's perseverance in a real effort task and their willingness to challenge themselves successfully with another, more difficult task. Based on a principal component analysis, we find that grit increases strongly with age. Parents' assessment of their child's grit is correlated with the actual behavior of their child. Education of parents plays a role for perseverance. Yet, children's level of patience is unrelated to their level of grit.
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