Study Says Adults Who Played Sports As Kids Have Higher Levels Of ‘Grit’

There’s an opinion among older generations that kids these days lack grit, determination, drive, or what ever you like to call it. If that’s a concern for you with your kids, there’s something you can do. Researchers from Ohio State University said they found after some study that participating in organized sports as a child, when they become an adult, it leads to higher levels of what they called grit.

They defined grit as “the combination of passion and perseverance that helps people achieve their long-term goals.” They add that kids learn lessons while playing sports that pay off later in life.

The study revealed that adults who played sports as a kid scored higher on a measurement of grit than those who didn’t play at all or quit early on. “Kids who participate in sports learn what it is like to struggle as they learn new skills, overcome challenges and bounce back from failure to try again,” says lead author Emily Nothnagle, a recent Ohio State graduate, in a university release. “The grit they develop playing sports can help them the rest of their lives.”

The study analyzed data on 3,993 adults from the National Sports and Society Survey (NSASS). The volunteers participated through the American Population Panel, run by the university’s Center for Human Resource Research. Each person completed the survey online between fall 2018 and spring 2019. They were asked to rate themselves on a scale of 1 to 5 on eight statements, including “I am diligent. I never give up” and “I am a hard worker.” Importantly, none of the statements had any connection to sports.

Researchers found that 34 percent of the participants who played sports as a child scored high on the grit scale, compared to 23 percent of those who didn’t play. Only 17 percent of those who did play sports had a low grit score. Meanwhile, one in four people who never played sports when they were younger displayed low levels of grit.

“Adults who played youth sports but dropped out did not show higher levels of grit. They actually demonstrated lower levels of grit after we included a proxy measure of how sports mattered for the development of grit while growing up,” explains study co-author Chris Knoester, an associate professor of sociology at Ohio State. Knoester notes there was also a elation between adults who quit sports as a child and their work ethic as adults. “Quitting could reflect a lack of perseverance, which is a crucial component of grit,” notes Knoester. “It could also make cutting an activcorrity, and not persevering, easier the next time.”

Moreover, the study found that adults who played sports regularly within the last year showed higher levels of grit, even if they didn’t participate in sports during childhood. “This additional finding about sports participation in adulthood suggests that you can build and perhaps lose grit during different points in your life,” says Knoester. “It is not a static quality.”

Source: https://bit.ly/3vvsYgN