Year

2018

Season

Spring

Degree Type

Honors Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree Name

Honors in the Major

First Advisor

Dr. Paul T. Fuglestad

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the possible relationship between an individual’s level of the trait of GRIT (Duckworth et al., 2007) and the effectiveness of a health promotion and weight control intervention. Participants completed an initial online survey that consisted of the GRIT scale, demographic questions (age, gender, ethnicity), and health behavior questions, along with a baseline body measurement. Participants were randomly assigned to the control group (n = 34) or one of two treatment groups (n = 57). Those assigned to the treatment groups completed a 1 hour educational session and received intervention packets, while those in the control group only completed the survey. Participants completed another survey at 3 months and self-reported their weight. A mixed-design analysis of variance of weight change from baseline to 3 months was conducted using treatment group (treatment vs. control), GRIT score, and the interaction of treatment and GRIT score as predictor variables. A significant interaction was found between participants’ Grit score and condition on weight change, (p = .034). Participants that scored higher on the Grit Scale tended to lose more weight in the treatment condition compared to those who scored lower. Additional analyses using each of the Grit subscales found that the Grit consistency subscale interacted with treatment condition (p = .036), but the Grit effort subscale did not. The results suggest that the qualities unique to the Grit consistency subscale may be worth considering in the context of health interventions.

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