“Testing the Association of Growth Mindset and Grades across a Challenging Transition: Is Growth Mindset Associated With Grades?”, 2020-07-15 (; similar):
Reports two near-replications of the relationship of mindset to grades across a challenging transition (n = 832)
Growth mindset was studied longitudinally from high school through four years of university
Growth mindset was not associated with grades at any point
Growth mindset was not associated with grades across the challenging transition from high school to university
Growth mindset was not associated with grades even in students for whom university was especially challenging
Mindset theory predicts that whether students believe basic ability is greatly malleable exerts a major influence on their own educational attainment ( et al 2007).
We tested this prediction in two near-replication studies (total n = 832). In study 1 we tested the association of mindset with university grades in a cross-sectional design involving self-reported grades for 246 undergraduates. Growth mindset showed no association with grades (β = −0.02 CI95 [−0.16, 0.12], t = −0.26, p = 0.792). In study 2, we implemented a longitudinal design, testing the association of mindset with grade transcript scores across a series of challenging transitions: from high school to university entry, and then across all years of an undergraduate degree (n = 586).
Contrary to prediction, mindset was not associated with grades across the challenging transition from high-school to the first year of university (β = −0.05 CI95 [−0.14, 0.05], t = −0.95, p = 0.345). In addition, mindset was unrelated to entry grades (p = 0.808). And no support was found for a predicted interaction of mindset with academic disadvantage across the transition (β = −0.03 CI95 [−0.12, 0.07], t = −0.54, p = 0.592). Follow-up analyses showed no association of mindset with improvement in grades at any subsequent year of the degree (minimum p-value 0.591).
Jointly, these two near-replication studies suggest that, even across challenging transitions, growth mindset is either unrelated to educational attainment or has a very small negative influence.
[Keywords: intelligence-mindset, educational attainment, growth mindset, challenging transitions]