Patterns and Predictors of Grit and School Adjustment Among the Adolescents in Korea: A Latent Profile Analysis

Background/Purpose: School adjustment during adolescence significantly influences emotional stability, academic achievement, and peer relationships, thus serving as a crucial factor in overall developmental outcomes. Increasing attention has been directed toward identifying psychosocial resources that facilitate adolescents’ adjustment. Among these, grit—defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals—has recently garnered scholarly interest and is positively associated with school adjustment. However, most existing studies have focused on bivariate associations or causal pathways, overlooking heterogeneity across individual adolescents. Research that concurrently examines grit and school adjustment to classify adolescents into subgroups and investigates individual and contextual predictors of such profiles remains scarce. This study aims to identify latent profiles based on adolescents’ levels of grit and school adjustment, and to examine the influence of individual (e.g., self-esteem, academic engagement) and environmental factors (e.g., parenting behaviors) on profile membership. The goal is to provide foundational evidence for developing multifaceted interventions that promote school adjustment.

Method: Data were from the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS), a nationally representative longitudinal dataset in South Korea. We used data from the 6th wave of the Grade 4 panel, targeting third-year middle school students (equivalent to 9th grade in the U.S. system) (n = 2,242). Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was conducted using six observed indicators: two subdomains of grit (consistency of interest and perseverance of effort) and four dimensions of school adjustment (peer relationships, teacher relationships, satisfaction with school life, and satisfaction with academic achievement). To examine the predictors of profile membership, we employed the R3STEP procedure in Mplus version 8.3. Covariates included gender, self-esteem, attention, academic enthusiasm, and six dimensions of parenting behaviors (warmth, autonomy support, structure, rejection, coercion, and inconsistency).

Results: Five distinct profiles emerged from the LPA: (1) High Grit & School Adjustment (7.81%, n = 175), (2) Moderate Grit & School Adjustment (53.19%, n = 1,192), (3) Low Grit & School Adjustment (20.88%, n = 468), (4) Low Grit with High School Adjustment (4.73%, n = 106), and (5) Interest-Driven Type (13.39%, n = 300). Multinomial logistic regression using the R3STEP procedure revealed that gender, self-esteem, academic enthusiasm, and specific parenting behaviors (e.g., warmth, autonomy support, structure) significantly predicted class membership. Notably, adolescents in the High Grit & School Adjustment profile were associated with higher levels of self-esteem, academic enthusiasm, and positive parenting practices. In contrast, those in the Low Grit & School Adjustment profile tended to exhibit lower levels of these protective factors and greater exposure to negative parenting behaviors.

Conclusion and Implications: These findings suggest that grit and school adjustment in adolescents should be understood through an integrative lens that considers the interaction between individual traits and environmental factors. The results indicate a need for tailored interventions reflecting subgroup differences, particularly programs that enhance self-esteem and academic engagement, and promote supportive, autonomy-encouraging parenting. By identifying latent profiles and their predictors, this study offers empirical evidence to guide youth policy and school-based interventions, contributing both academically and practically to the promotion of adolescent adjustment.