Persistence and its Diagnostics: Development of a Scale of Academic Persistence

The relevance of the study of persistence is primarily since it belongs to the group of non-cognitive factors that determine academic achievement and success. Based on modern theoretical and methodological developments, a scale of persistence in academic activities was developed for students in grades 3–8 of secondary schools. The study was conducted on two samples of primary and secondary schoolchildren (N = 840, MA = 11.27, SD = 1.99). The scale evaluates academic persistence (grit), understood as a behavioral component of motivation for academic activity, manifested in such characteristics as persistence in learning, a tendency to finish what has been started, and a positive attitude towards effort. To test the validity of the new questionnaire, indicators of academic achievement, intrinsic and various types of extrinsic academic motivation, academic cheating, academic self-efficacy and well-being were used. The results of the analysis of psychometric properties, including CFA, show that the new persistence scale is characterized by acceptable indicators of internal consistency, a clear factor structure, a balanced composition, and compactness. Convincing evidence was obtained in favor of the validity of the scale, and the importance of perseverance for the academic performance (GPA) was demonstrated both for middle and primary school children. Age norm for students in grades 3–8 are provided, and the dynamics of perseverance from elementary to middle grades among students in public schools is shown. The proposed scale can be useful in further research when studying the role of persistence in academic achievements and its sources.