In one of his novels, True Grit (1968), Charles Portis focuses on a U.S. Marshal named Reuben J. (“Rooster) Cogburn who is described as fearless and tenacious when overcoming all manner of dangers while pursuing criminals such as Tom Chaney. There are two film versions, with Cogburn played by John Wayne in the original and by Jeff Bridges in the more recent one.

Working with Chris Peterson at the University of Pennsylvania, Angela Duckworth has devised what she calls a “Grit Scale” that has almost unlimited applications. For example, it is rapidly becoming accepted as one of the best predictors of academic success in schools and colleges as well as one of the best indicators character strengths and virtues. How reliable is it?

According to Paul Tough in How Children Succeed, the test was given to more than twelve hundred freshman cadets when they entered the military academy at West Point and they also completed the academy’s own complex evaluation, “called the candidate score, to judge incoming cadets and predict which of them will survive the demands of West Point.” The results of Duckworth’s “simple little twelve-item grit questionnaire” proved more accurate.

What is your grit rating?

Duckworth’s self-diagnostic takes only a minute or two to complete. Here is the first statement:

1. I have overcome setbacks to conquer an important challenge.

o  Very much like me
o  Mostly like me
o  Somewhat like me
o  Not much like me
o  Not like me at all

There are 11 other statements to which you will respond. There are no true or false answers. However, it is imperative to answer honestly.

To rate yourself, please click here.

* * *

Angela Duckworth is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania from which she earned her PhD degree after earning a BA in neurobiology from Harvard University. She studies competencies other than general intelligence that predict academic and professional achievement. Her research centers on self-control (the ability to regulate emotions, thoughts, and feelings in the service of valued goals) and grit (perseverance and sustained interest in long-term goals). She is especially interested in the subjective experience of exerting self-control and grit – and conscious strategies that facilitate adaptive behavior in the face of temptation, frustration, and distraction.