Conceptualizing students’ academic hardiness dimensions: a qualitative study

摘要

Academic hardiness is a personality characteristic that may differentiate students who avoid challenging academic course work from others who are willing to pursue these types of challenges. Research findings have demonstrated the need to understand and examine the construct in different life stages and cultural settings, and there are additional aspects of the construct that have yet to be identified. The purpose of this study was to explore the possible dimensions of academic hardiness and its components (commitment, control, and challenge) using qualitative methodology. In-depth interviews were conducted with 21 primary school children (aged 10–12 years old). They were asked to narrate and reflect on their experience about school failure and low grade in a test in a school lesson. The findings demonstrate that students differ as to the way they face the negative experience, as results showed that a variety of factors were related with students’ academic hardiness. The findings are discussed in relation to the recent literature.