Investigation into the relationship between mindfulness and grit, and the role of meditation experience in the relationship, across cultures

Mindfulness, namely awareness of present experiences that is non-elaborative and non-judging in nature (Kabat-Zinn, 1994), and grit, a combination of perseverance and passion for long-term goals, are psychological constructs that have each received much attention lately in both popular culture as well as the scientific literature. However, to date, no existing studies in the psychological literature have explored the potential relationship between the two constructs. Thus the chief aim of the present thesis was to address this gap in the literature by examining how grit and mindfulness relate to each other over time and in different samples. Additionally, a secondary aim of the present thesis was to illuminate the influence of meditation experience on the relationship between the two constructs. Lastly, since mindfulness and grit have been developed and researched chiefly within the Western context, the thesis also sought to compare how the two constructs are experienced across Western (New Zealand and the U.S.) and non-Western (Thai) cultures.

The main objectives were investigated across three separate studies. Study 1 focused on the relationship between mindfulness and grit within university students from New Zealand (concurrently and longitudinally), while Study 2 addressed the cross-cultural aspect by comparing the relationship between the two constructs across Thai and NZ university students. Study 3, although it also included a cross-cultural comparison across Thai and American community samples, focused on an investigation of the potential moderating role of meditation experience on the relationship between mindfulness and grit in the two investigated cultural groups.

Together, the main results from the three studies revealed that though there are some differences in the associations between the facets of mindfulness and components of grit at the facet level, at the overall construct level, mindfulness and grit, as predicted, were positively and moderately associated across all cultural groups. However, surprisingly, meditation experience was found to be a be a nonsignificant moderator of the relationship between mindfulness and grit for both Thai and American samples. Nonetheless, the main findings across the three studies imply that mindful individuals tend to also be gritty regardless of cultural background and meditation experience. This finding provides a foundation upon which future research can build on and has great practical potential across organizational, clinical, and educational contexts.