Effect of Growth Mindset on Mathematics Achievement Among Chinese Junior High School Students: The Mediating Roles of Academic Buoyancy and Adaptability

A growth mindset is crucial for students' academic development. Many studies have demonstrated the influence of a growth mindset on mathematics achievement, but the mediating mechanisms underlying this relationship still warrant further exploration. This study investigates the mediating roles of students' academic buoyancy and adaptability in the relationship between the student growth mindset and mathematics achievement within the Chinese cultural context. The sample included 1164 junior high school students (49.4% females). Using structural equation modeling, the results showed that, after controlling for gender, school type, and family socioeconomic status, the student growth mindset was positively related to mathematics achievement. Furthermore, the student growth mindset was significantly associated with the student academic buoyancy, cognitive-behavioral adaptability, and affective adaptability, but only cognitive-behavioral adaptability further mediated the relationship between the student growth mindset and mathematics achievement. The multi-group analysis demonstrated that the model exhibited invariance across the genders, school types, and SES levels, indicating that the associations were applicable to both boys and girls, to both boarding and day students, and to students from low-, middle-, and high-SES backgrounds. We discuss the findings by considering the Chinese cultural characteristics and provide insights that may help in the development of interventions to improve students' mathematics performance.