Socioeconomic status moderates the relationship between growth mindset and learning in mathematics and science: Evidence from PISA 2018 Philippine data

The growth mindset is the belief that one’s level of intelligence can be changed, and many education-reform advocates have pushed for growth mindset interventions in the belief it will improve achievement in schools. While researchers have debated the usefulness of mindset interventions in schools, current research has focused on investigating the social contexts within which the growth mindset benefits are realized. As there are divergent findings regarding how socioeconomic status (SES) relates to growth mindset, this study examines how SES moderates the relationship between Filipino students’ growth mindset and learning in mathematics and science. Data from a nationally representative sample (n = 7,233) of Filipino students from the PISA2018 database were analyzed. The results show that holding a growth mindset was positively associated with learning in mathematics and science, explaining a small portion of variations in learning. In contrast, SES explained a larger portion of variations in learning. The positive association between growth mindset and learning was found only among higher SES students; there was a nonsignificant relationship between growth mindset and learning among lower SES students. The results are discussed in terms of how social resources supportive of efforts to improve intelligence might be prerequisites for realizing growth mindset benefits.