Predicting achievement goals in the East and West: the role of grit among American and Chinese university students

Based on the hierarchical model of achievement motivation, this study examined how grit predicted achievement goals among two university student samples from American and Chinese cultures. Grit, as a personality trait, includes consistency of interest and perseverance of effort; achievement goals are represented by four types of goals, namely, mastery-approach, performance-approach, mastery-avoidance and performance-avoidance goals. Two hundred and seventy-two undergraduate students (158 Americans and 114 Chinese) were recruited and completed the survey online. Results showed that, though positively correlated, the two aspects of grit predicted achievement goals in very different ways. Specifically, consistency of interest negatively predicted performance-avoidance goals, whereas perseverance of effort positively predicted all four achievement goals (i.e. mastery-approach, performance-approach, mastery-avoidance, and performance-avoidance goals). Multi-group structural equation modelling revealed that this pattern was equivalent across the two cultural samples.