Exploring Factors Influencing Grit in Elementary School Students Using Random Forest

Objectives The purposes of this study were to select relevant variables and analyze them through random forest to explore factors influencing grit in elementary school students. Methods For this purpose, Utilizing data from the 11th to 13th waves of the Korean Children's Panel, 1,359 sub-jects were analyzed after excluding cases with missing grit values. Random forest analysis was conducted using 41 selected variables for grit, perseverance, and interest consistency. Results In the analysis results, it was predominantly observed that certain child-related variables significantly in-fluenced grit and its aspects. For grit, variables like executive function, diligence, school adaptation, academic stress, and career maturity were crucial. Consistency of interests was notably affected by executive function, dili-gence, career maturity, academic stress, and school adaptation. Perseverance of effort was influenced by dili-gence, executive function, learning attitude, school adaptation, and self-esteem. Generally, higher levels of these variables were associated with increased grit in children. Conclusions To foster a child's grit, it's crucial to help them acquire executive function strategies, maintain a dili-gent attitude, and create a supportive environment for school adaptation. While the direct influence of parental and school characteristics on a child's grit is relatively minor compared to individual factors, establishing a suitable en-vironment and providing psychological and emotional support at both school and home will aid in children's grit development.