An Examination Of Reliability And Validity Of The Short Grit Scale Among Chinese Professional Athletes And College Student Athletes

This study aimed to examine the reliability and validity of the Chinese translated Short Grit Scale(Grit-S) among Chinese professional athletes and college student athletes. For this study, 521 junior adolescent professional athletes(11-17 years old), 289 senior adult professional athletes(18-40 years old) and 217 college student athletes(18-40 years old)were invited to complete the eight item Chinese translated Grit-S, the Conscientiousness Subscale of Brief Chinese Big Five Personality Inventory(CBF-PI-B), the Chinese version of the Brief Self-Control Scale(BSCS), and the Mental Toughness Inventory(MTI). Athletes participating in this study through the completion of self-report measure must also nominate a coach or a teammate to accomplish the informant version of Grit-S. In addition, 170 junior adolescent professional athletes, 125 senior adult professional athletes and 54 college student athletes were invited to complete the Chinese translated Grit-S three months later to evaluate the test-retest reliability of this scale. Confirmatory factor analysis(CFA) results confirmed that the Chinese translated Grit-S had a two-dimensional structure, and good construct validity. Internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, and criterion-related validity were satisfactory for all subscales across each of the three samples. Criteria-related validity was supported with strong relationships between the Grit-S, the BSCS, the Conscientiousness Subscale of CBF-PI-B, the MTI, and the informant version of Grit-S. Finally, the configural and metric measurement invariances between professional and undergraduate senior-athletes, as well as between junior and senior professional-athletes, were supported. In conclusion, the Chinese-translated Grit-S is a reliable and valid self-report instrument for measuring grit level among Chinese professional athletes and undergraduate athletes.