title: Grit in adolescence is protective of late-life cognition: non-cognitive factors and cognitive reserve.
abstract: Various psychological assets have been shown to protect against late-life cognitive impairment by promoting cognitive reserve. While factors such as educational attainment and IQ are well-established contributors to cognitive reserve, noncognitive factors, such as grit, have not been studied in this regard. We examined the contribution of adolescent grit, indexed by high school class rank controlling for IQ, to late-life cognition and its decline among approximately 4000 participants in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, a random sample of high school graduates followed from 1957 to 2011. Adolescent grit significantly predicted both immediate and delayed memory at ages 64 and 71, over and above the contribution of IQ. While the relative contributions of IQ and grit to immediate memory were comparable, grit was a stronger predictor of delayed memory. Cognitive reserve has noncognitive, as well as cognitive, components.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Temple University , Philadelphia , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rhodes
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Temple University , Philadelphia , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Kathryn N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Devlin
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Temple University , Philadelphia , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Temple University , Philadelphia , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Tania
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Giovannetti
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D058245:Cognitive Reserve; D004522:Educational Status; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D014922:Wisconsin
keywords: Cognitive reserve; academic achievement; class rank; cognitive aging; intelligence; non-cognitive factors