Coping styles mediate the relation between mindset and academic resilience in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted adolescent mental health on a global scale. However, many students were resilient during this crisis, despite exposure to COVID-related stressors. We aimed to study the protective effects of growth mindset on school-related resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the mediating effects of coping styles. The two-year follow-up of an ongoing Randomized Controlled Trial, involving a growth mindset and control intervention, took place during the pandemic. We measured growth mindset, school burnout symptoms, COVID-19-specific stressor exposure, coping styles, and calculated a resilience score (corrected for pre-pandemic school burnout symptoms). Mediation analyses were performed in the total sample (N = 261), and exploratory in the intervention subsamples, to test whether the associations between mindset and resilience were mediated by coping styles. Growth-mindset students were more resilient during the pandemic and used less maladaptive and more adaptive (acceptance) coping styles. Coping mediated the relation between mindset and resilience in the total sample (both coping styles), and growth mindset intervention subsample (maladaptive coping). We found unique evidence for the beneficial effects of growth mindset on school-related resilience during the pandemic, and the mediating effect of coping styles as explanatory mechanism. This work contributes to a growing literature that shows positive effects of growth mindset on mental health.

Growth mindset and school burnout symptoms in young adolescents: the role of vagal activity as potential mediator

“…Nevertheless, Janssen and van Atteveldt (2022) could not establish a diminishing effect of the growth mindset intervention on school burnout symptoms, which might take longer to manifest. In a recent two-year follow-up study of the same intervention ( Janssen and van Atteveldt, 2023 ), a relation was found between induced growth mindset and resilience against school burnout symptoms during COVID-19 that was fully mediated by the use of more adaptive coping strategies. This might implicate that coping is an important mechanism trough which growth mindset could influence resilient behavior.…”

Association of self-leadership and epidemic risk perception on quality of life in post-pandemic mainland of China: a cross-sectional study

“…China adopted proactive control policies in June 2020 to fight COVID-19 and has entered the post-pandemic era (4,5) with the majority of the population vaccinated (6) and a lower fatality rate than before (7). Studies in various countries (8)(9)(10) revealed that people's psychological stress under COVID-19 directly affected their quality of life and work performance. Therefore, exploring the various factors that affect people's psychological state and behavior in the post-pandemic era can help to directly or indirectly improve their quality of life.…”

Does growth mindset benefit negative mental health among middle school students: The role of psychological resilience and gender

“…Zeng et al (2016) provided empirical evidence that growth mindset was positively corelated with resilience, and students holding the belief that their mindset was changeable and malleable had higher resilience, were more effective in dealing with difficulties, and bounced back from hardships in the academic environment. When faced with social adversity, Janssen and van Atteveldt (2023) reported that students with higher growth mindset levels were more resilient when given stressor exposure during pandemic. Calvete et al (2022) demonstrated that adolescents who received growth mind interventions had higher resilience following online victimization, and would experience lower social anxiety, lower peer aggression, and exhibit more stronger intentions to help victims.…”