No pain no gain? Social demographic correlates and identity consequences of interpreting experienced difficulty as importance

- Experienced difficulty with schoolwork can imply that the task is important.
- This 'no pain, no gain' interpretation is more likely as education level increases.
- Students can be guided to consider this interpretation, increasing.
- Certainty about and willingness to sacrifice for academic possible identities.
- Rejecting the notion that experienced difficulty implies impossibility also works.

Community college students are less likely to graduate than university students, perhaps because their difficult life circumstances increase their vulnerability to misinterpreting the identity implications of experienced difficulty with schoolwork. Without guidance, they may fail to take a “no pain, no gain” perspective in which experienced difficulty with schoolwork implies the importance of succeeding in school. Two studies support this prediction: Study 1 (N = 1035) finds that education is associated with higher likelihood of interpreting experienced difficulty as signaling task importance among adults. This effect is pronounced for racial minorities. Study 2 (n = 293) finds that students who disagreed that experienced difficulty implies impossibility were more certain about attaining their academic possible identities and more willing to sacrifice to attain these identities. Moreover, community college students benefited more than university students from being guided to consider what experienced difficulty might imply or from considering that experienced difficulty implies importance, rather than impossibility.