Relationships between grit, physical activity, and academic success in university students: Domains of physical activity matter

Abstract

ObjectiveTo examine the relationships between contexts of physical activity, grit, and GPA in a college population.

Participants:

875 Undergraduate students from a large, southern university participated between October 2018 and March 2020.

Methods:

Participants completed an electronic survey evaluating physical activity and grit. The university provided official GPAs. Multiple linear regression models evaluated the correlations between grit, the different physical activity domains, and GPA.

Results:

Grit was positively associated with domestic physical activity, leisure time physical activity, and GPA. Consistency of interest had no associations with the domains of physical activity or GPA. Perseverance of effort was positively associated with walking, active transport physical activity, domestic physical activity, leisure physical activity, and GPA.

Conclusion:

Perseverance of effort is related to different domains of physical activity and GPA. Future studies should investigate if increasing leisure time physical activity causes increases in perseverance of effort.

Keywords:

• Academic success
• college students
• grit
• physical activity

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of [United States] and received approval from the [IRB at the University of Arkansas].

Funding

This study received no funding throughout data collection or development of the manuscript.