毅力与学业成绩的关系:有意走神和自发走神的不同中介作用

The Influence of Grit on Academic Achievement: The Mediating Role of Deliberate and Spontaneous Mind Wandering

以3300名5年级小学生为研究对象,采用毅力量表、有意走神和自发走神量表以及学业成绩测验,考察毅力(兴趣一致性和坚持努力)对学业成绩的影响,并检验有意走神和自发走神的中介作用。结果发现:(1)兴趣一致性和坚持努力均显著正向预测学业成绩,控制第一次学业成绩后,兴趣一致性对半年后的学业成绩仍有预测作用;(2)有意走神、自发走神在兴趣一致性和坚持努力与学业成绩之间均发挥中介作用,但它们的中介作用模式不同。

Grit is defined as trait-level perseverance and passion for long-term goals, to develop high level grit is critical for people to get success. studies showed that grit had a significant positive impact on academic achievement of high school and college students. Also, students with high levels of this trait were more likely to concentrate on the lectures in class, and less mind wandering. Furthermore, a substantial body research revealed that individuals engaging in less mind wandering had higher academic achievement than whose engaging in more mind wandering. However, to date, no attempt has been made to evaluate the relationship among those three variables in a model simultaneously, especially for elementary students. The present study attempted to investigate the effects of grit(consistency of interests(perseverance of effort), and mind wandering(deliberate and spontaneous mind wandering) on later academic achievement. We also examined whether deliberate and spontaneous mind wandering would play mediator role in the relationship between consistency of interests, perseverance of effort and later academic achievement. A total of 3300 elementary students were selected as sample, of which 1665 were males and 1635 were females. All students assembled in class and completed the scales and academic tests. There were two scales, one was the Mind Wandering Scale, which consisted of a Deliberate Mind Wandering Scale(MW-D) and a Spontaneous Mind Wandering Scale(MW-S);The other was the Grit Scale, which consisted of two subscales(consistency of interests and perseverance of effort). Both scales showed good reliability and validity in the present study. A confirmatory factor analysis was calculated to test the common method variance. Results indicated that the single-factor model was not suitable, confirming the study was accurate enough in terms of common method variance. Academic test was conducted semi-annually at the end of each semester, totally 2 times. The results indicated that:(1) After controlling gender, both consistency of interests and perseverance of effort positively predicted T1 academic achievement. When controlling T1 academic achievement, only consistency of interests positively predicted T2 academic achievement. After controlling gender and T1 academic achievement,(2) Deliberate mind wandering positively predicted T2 academic achievement, while spontaneous mind wandering negatively predicted T2 academic achievement;(3) Both deliberate and spontaneous mind wandering mediated the relationship between consistency of interests, perseverance of effort and academic achievement. However, the mediating effects were different: for individuals with high consistency of interests, the mediating effect of deliberate mind wandering was negative, whereas the mediating effect of spontaneous mind wandering was positive;For individuals with high perseverance of effort, though the mediating effect of deliberate and spontaneous mind wandering were positive, a dissociation mediation mechanism between two mind wanderings was found: on the one hand, individuals with high perseverance level showed more deliberate mind wandering, on the other hand, they showed less spontaneous mind-wandering, which all of them were conducive to the improvement in academic performance.These findings implies that not all mind wanderings could contribute to negative consequences, the deliberate mind wandering plays an important positive role in academic performance. Students can appropriately engage in deliberate mind wandering and try their best to avoid spontaneous mind wandering. Meanwhile, this study also reveals the influencing mechanism of grit on academic performance among elementary students, which have important implications for educational curricula decisions and possible educational interventions.