Sport Participation and the Development of Grit

Abstract

Grit is the combination of perseverance and passion that helps people overcome challenges. Sport participation is a form of purposive leisure that may lead to the development of grit. Consequently, this study analyzes sport participation experiences over the life course and their implications for the development of adults’ grit. With data from the National Sports and Society Survey (N = 3,993), two series of nested regression models are used to explore the relationships between sport participation and grit. The first series focuses on the links between sport participation levels while growing up and their perceived impacts on work ethics, as a proxy for grit. The second series examines the relationships between sport participation levels over the life course and adults’ grit. Findings suggest that more sustained sport participation in childhood as well as adulthood lead to higher levels of adults’ grit.