Growth mindset of socioeconomic status boosts academic-related outcomes

Much of the research on mindsets has focused on implicit theories of intelligence. However, there are other types of mindsets that might have important implications for learning and achievement. Among those that have received less attention is mindset of socioeconomic status (SES), which pertains to the belief that SES is changeable (i.e., growth mindset of SES) or not (i.e., fixed mindset of SES). We conducted three studies to investigate the role of a growth (vs. fixed) mindset of SES in Chinese college students’ academic-related outcomes. Study 1 (a cross-sectional study, n = 342) and Study 2 (a longitudinal study, n = 299) examined whether mindset of SES is associated with academic achievement and whether school engagement explains the association between mindset of SES and academic achievement. The results consistently showed that students with a growth mindset of SES had higher school engagement, which, in turn, was related to higher academic achievement. Study 3 adopted an experimental approach to investigate the causal effect of mindset of SES on school engagement and educational aspiration (n = 174). The results indicated that experimentally inducing a growth mindset of SES increased students’ perceived school engagement, which was linked to better educational aspirations. Together, these three studies highlight the role of growth mindset of SES in shaping academic-related outcomes among college students.