The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating effect of Grit in the influence of perceived parental achievement press on academic failure tolerance for adolescents. The topics of this study were as follows. First, to discuss the differences in parental achievement press, academic failure tolerance and Grit according to adolescents'' sociodemographic background. Second, to discuss the influence of adolescents'' perceived parental achievement on academic failure tolerance; and third, to discuss the moderating effect of Grit on the relationship between adolescents'' perceived parental achievement on academic failure tolerance.
The subjects of this study were 487 adolescents residing in Daegu, Geongsang Province, Ulsan, Busan and Gangwon Province, Korea.
Parental achievement press was assessed by Hye Yeon Sun and Jung Hee Oh’s scale(2013). Academic failure tolerance was assessed by the modified scale based on Ah Young Kim(1994) and the Grit was assessed by Su Ran Lee''s scale(2014), this is translated to Original Grit Scale(Grit-O) developed by Duckworth et al.(2007).
The data of this study were analyzed by SPSS Windows 25.0 program.
Exploratory factor analysis, cronbach''s α, frequency, percentage, average, standard deviation, one-way ANOVA, Duncan''s multiple range test, correlation analysis and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were conducted.
The results of this study were as follows:
First, Parental achievement press according to sociodemographic background had a significant difference. Father’s achievement press had a significant difference in sex and birth order, Mother’s achievement press had a significant difference in father’s occupation. Academic failure tolerance according to sociodemographic background had a significant difference. Academic failure tolerance consists of task difficulty preference, feeling and behavior. Task difficulty preference had a significant difference in economic condition and mother’s occupation. Feeling had a significant difference in sex and father’s educational attainment. Behavior had a significant difference in economic condition, father’s educational attainment and mother’s educational attainment. Grit according to sociodemographic background had a significant difference. Grit consists of preseverance of effort and consistency of interests. Preseverance of effort had a significant difference in economic condition and mother’s occupation. Consistency of interests had a significant difference in birth order.
Second, the influence of adolescents'' perceived parental achievement press on academic failure tolerance. The higher parental achievement press, the higher task difficulty preference of academic failure tolerance. In contrast, The higher parental achievement press, the lower feeling of academic failure tolerance. There was no significant impact between parental achievement press and behavior.
Finally the moderating effects of Grit on the relationship between adolescent’s perceived parental achievement press on academic failure tolerance were following aspects :
First, there was the moderating effect consistency of interests of Grit on the relationship between father’s achievement press and behavior of academic failure tolerance.
Second, there was the moderating effect consistency of interests of Grit on the relationship between mother’s achievement press and behavior of academic failure tolerance.
Third, there was the moderating effect preseverance of effort of Grit on the relationship between mother’s achievement and behavior of academic failure tolerance.
In conclusion, it was verified that Grit of adolescent had a clear moderating effect on the relationship between parental achievement press and academic failure tolerance. It was more important for Grit to contribute to academic failure tolerance than parental achievement pressure. Therefore it is necessary to improve Grit in order to raise academic capability for adolescents. The findings of this study are also expected to be basic data for education program.