The Impact of Parental Grit and Life Satisfaction on Children's Grit: The Mediating Effect of Children's Life Satisfaction

Objectives The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of parents and early adolescents on the impact of two sub-factors of grit, consistency of interest and perseverance of effort, on life satisfaction. Methods The survey was conducted using data from 2,554 parents and students from the second (5th grade) to fourth (1st middle school) waves of the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS) 2018 to analyze the structural relationships between parents' and early adolescents' grit and life satisfaction. Results First, parental grit had a positive effect on perseverance of effort, a subfactor of child grit. Second, parental life satisfaction had a positive effect on children's life satisfaction and children's perseverance of effort. Third, in the interaction of parental grit and life satisfaction with child grit, child life satisfaction acted as a positive mediator of child perseverance of effort. Conclusions In order to promote grit and life satisfaction in children during transition, parents need to pay attention to their own grit and life satisfaction.