关键词: 小学生, 毅力, 走神, 学业成绩

Abstract: 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. Many studies showed that grit had a significant positive impact on academic achievement of high school and college students. Also, students with the 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 who 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 aim of this study was to investigate the effects of grit (consistency of interests、perseverance of effort), and mind wandering (deliberate and spontaneous mind wandering) on academic achievement. We also examined whether deliberate and spontaneous mind wandering would play mediators role in the relationship between consistency of interests、perseverance of effort and academic achievement. A sample of 3372 elementary students ( including 1702 males and 1670 females) completed two questionnaires. 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). All the measures 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. The results indicated that: (1) both of consistency of interests and perseverance of effort positively predicted academic achievement. (2) Deliberate mind wandering positively predicted academic achievement, while spontaneous mind wandering negatively predicted academic achievement. (3) After controlling gender and age, both of 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 negatively, whereas the mediating effect of spontaneous mind wandering was positively; for individuals with high perseverance of effort, though the mediating effect of deliberate and spontaneous mind wandering were positively, a dissociation mediation mechanism between both of mind wandering 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. Both of these conditions were conducive to the improvement of academic performance. These findings implied that not all of mind wandering could contribute to negative consequences, the deliberate mind wandering played an important positive role in academic performance. Students could appropriately engage in deliberate mind wandering, and try their best to avoid spontaneous mind wandering. Meanwhile, This paper also reveals the influencing mechanism of grit on academic performance among elementary students, which could have important implications for educational curricula decisions and possible educational interventions.

Key words: elementary students, grit, mind wandering, academic achievement