Can grit be cultivated? Longitudinal evidence for psychological mechanisms in Taiwanese military cadets

Grit is recognized as a key psychological resource for military personnel, yet limited longitudinal research has examined whether and how grit develops during military training. This study investigated the developmental trajectory of grit among 318 military cadets over one academic year using a four-wave longitudinal design. Latent growth modeling and multi-group analysis were employed to identify psychological predictors of grit development and to examine whether these predictors operated consistently across different grade levels. Results showed that grit exhibited a significant positive growth trajectory after controlling for psychological antecedents. A dual-process mechanism emerged from the analysis. Hope, growth mindset, and deliberate practice functioned as foundational factors that predicted initial levels of grit. Emotion regulation served as a catalytic factor and was the only significant predictor of the rate of grit growth over time. These psychological mechanisms were invariant across grade levels, suggesting that grit development is driven more by psychological factors than by maturation. Furthermore, both initial grit levels and grit growth positively predicted prosocial behavior and negatively predicted counterproductive behavior at the end of the academic year. These findings indicate that grit can be cultivated through targeted psychological training, offering practical guidance for military education and counseling programs.