LAUSR

Recent work has shown that individuals’ participatory habits are locked-in by early adulthood. Yet, we know little about the early origins of these patterns. In this paper, we explore the childhood and early adolescent roots of civic attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, we examine whether a bundle of general motivational attributes captured by grit — the ability to persevere in the pursuit of goals — are relevant for early civic engagement. Using a unique large-scale survey of students linked to school administrative records and a variety of modeling techniques — including those leveraging siblings and twin pairs — we find that grit is not only a predictor of academic achievement, but also of civic attitudes and behaviors. Grittier students are more politically efficacious, more likely to volunteer, and more likely to intend to vote. This illustrates the importance of a heretofore-unexplored set of psychosocial attributes in the development of civic attitudes and behaviors.