ERIC Number: EJ1435946
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Aug
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0742-5627
EISSN: EISSN-1573-1758
The Effect of Mindset Interventions on Stress and Academic Motivation in College Students
Heidi H. Meyer; Lauren A. Stutts
Innovative Higher Education, v49 n4 p783-798 2024
Stress levels are high among college students in the United States. Growth mindset and stress-is-enhancing mindset interventions offer ways to reduce stress, but minimal research has examined them. This study's aim was to examine the effect of mindset interventions on mindsets, stress, academic motivation, and responses to hypothetical academic scenarios. Participants included 210 college students who were randomized to one of four groups: growth mindset (intelligence is malleable), stress mindset (stress is beneficial), synergistic (intelligence is malleable, and stress is beneficial), or control (brain functions). The growth mindset and the synergistic mindset group increased in growth mindset, and the growth mindset group had higher growth mindset than the stress mindset and control group post-intervention. The stress mindset and the synergistic group increased in stress-is-enhancing mindset, and both groups had higher stress-is-enhancing mindsets than the growth mindset and control group post-intervention. All groups decreased in stress and increased in academic motivation. The synergistic group was the only group to improve on all the main outcomes, and students in this group were less likely to want to withdraw from a course in both negative hypothetical academic scenarios (if they failed an assignment or were faced with a professor with a fixed mindset). Our findings suggest that students would benefit from increased access to mindset interventions.
Descriptors: College Students, Student Attitudes, Attitude Change, Intervention, Stress Variables, Student Motivation, Cognitive Restructuring, Student Development
Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2123/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A