Social context and daily fluctuations in adolescents’ mindset: the role of parental beliefs, appraisal of increasing marks, and feedback

Abstract

Mindset is generally conceptualized as a stable trait, but recent research suggests that the social context may play a pivotal role in its development and adjustment (de Ruiter & Thomaes, 2023; King, 2020); Lou & Li, 2023). Empirical investigations have primarily focused on the social context of teachers and peers with less attention to the role of parents. This study seeks to explore the relationship between parents and their adolescents’ intelligence mindset, by examining the effects of parents’ intelligence mindset, failure beliefs, and appraisal of increasing academic marks, as well as the daily feedback they provide, using a combination of cross-sectional and daily diary methods. The results of the cross-sectional study, from a sample of Dutch adolescents (Mage = 14.47 years) and their parents (Mage = 47.60 years) revealed that a more growth-oriented intelligence mindset in parents relate to a more growth-oriented intelligence mindset in their adolescents. Furthermore, parents’ result-oriented day-to-day feedback was found to be negatively associated with adolescents’ intelligence mindset, demonstrating that a focus on school marks may inhibit the development of a growth mindset in adolescents. These findings have useful implications, such as providing new insights into the dynamic interplay between parents’ intelligence mindset, the day-to-day feedback they provide, and their adolescents’ intelligence mindset, which may be important factors for adolescents’ learning attitudes and academic success.