Grit is the perseverance and passion for long term goals (Duckworth et al., 2007). Perseverance has been linked self-regulated learning, lower levels of procrastination, and academic achievement (Wolters & Hussain, 2014; cite). Self-regulated learning, such as strategic learning approaches, has also been linked to better academic performance (Grøm Saele et al., 2017). In contrast, procrastination indicates a lack of self-regulation and is associated with poor academic performance. Therefore, it was hypothesized that first perseverance would predict higher strategic learning. The second hypothesis was procrastination would mediate the relationship between perseverance and strategic learning. College students (N= 127) completed the GRIT Scale, the ASSIST, and the Procrastination Scale. To investigate procrastination as a mediator of perseverance and strategic approaches to learning, a mediation analysis was conducted using PROCESS (Hayes, 2017). Gender was included as a covariate in the model due to past research (Voyer & Voyer, 2014), and significant relations to the dependent variables. The results supported the first hypothesis, perseverance significantly predicted strategic approaches to learning and accounted for 30% of the variance (R2 = .30, p < .01). The second hypothesis was also supported as procrastination partially mediated the relationship between perseverance and strategic approaches to learning based on significant indirect effects (ab = 1.14, BCa CI [.38, 2.11], where lower procrastination levels explained the relationship between higher perseverance and greater strategic learning. These results will be discussed in relation to college students’ academic performance and potential interventions for academic success.
Faculty Mentor: Anjolii Diaz
Psychological Sciences
Undergraduate/Graduate