Short Grit Scale
Grit-SPermission: Free for research use. Free for non-commercial academic research, with no license fee. Cite the original publication.
An 8-item measure of grit (perseverance and passion for long-term goals) with two 4-item subscales: consistency of interest and perseverance of effort.
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Reliability & validation
Subscales
Response anchors
Not at all like me · Not much like me · Somewhat like me · Mostly like me · Very much like me
Known limitations
In the original samples the perseverance-of-effort subscale was less reliable (α = .60 to .78) than consistency of interest (α = .73 to .79), and grit overlaps substantially with conscientiousness, raising questions about incremental validity. Free for non-commercial research and education only; the scale is copyrighted and may not be republished.
Original citation
Duckworth, A. L., & Quinn, P. D. (2009). Development and validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S). Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(2), 166-174.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00223890802634290Questions researchers ask
What does the Grit-S measure?
An 8-item measure of grit (perseverance and passion for long-term goals) with two 4-item subscales: consistency of interest and perseverance of effort.
How many items does the Grit-S have?
The Short Grit Scale (Grit-S) has 8 items across 2 subscales: Consistency of Interest, Perseverance of Effort.
Is the Grit-S free to use?
The Grit-S is free to use for non-commercial academic research. You don't need to pay a license fee, but you should always cite the original publication.
Is the Grit-S reliable?
Validation studies report Cronbach's α of 0.73–0.83. See the reliability section for the population studied and full statistics.
Who developed the Grit-S, and how do I cite it?
Duckworth, A. L., & Quinn, P. D. (2009). Development and validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S). Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(2), 166-174. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223890802634290
Related scales
Library entry verified September 2026. Metadata is provided for reference. Questionnaires are built in Folio Surveyor, subject to each instrument's licensing, and can be taken to Qualtrics, Google Forms or Microsoft Forms, with their CSV responses brought back for scoring.