Coping styles mediate the relation between mindset and academic resilience in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: a randomized controlled trial

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted adolescent mental health on a global scale. However, many students were resilient during this crisis, despite exposure to COVID-related stressors. We aimed to study the protective effects of growth mindset on school-related resilience during the COVID-19 pan...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2023-04, Vol.13 (1), p.6060-13, Article 6060
Main Authors: Janssen, T. W. P., van Atteveldt, N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/378/1831
631/477/2811
Adaptation, Psychological
Adolescent
Adolescents
Burnout
Clinical trials
Coping
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Mental Health
multidisciplinary
Pandemics
Schools
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
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Summary:The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted adolescent mental health on a global scale. However, many students were resilient during this crisis, despite exposure to COVID-related stressors. We aimed to study the protective effects of growth mindset on school-related resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the mediating effects of coping styles. The two-year follow-up of an ongoing Randomized Controlled Trial, involving a growth mindset and control intervention, took place during the pandemic. We measured growth mindset, school burnout symptoms, COVID-19-specific stressor exposure, coping styles, and calculated a resilience score (corrected for pre-pandemic school burnout symptoms). Mediation analyses were performed in the total sample ( N  = 261), and exploratory in the intervention subsamples, to test whether the associations between mindset and resilience were mediated by coping styles. Growth-mindset students were more resilient during the pandemic and used less maladaptive and more adaptive (acceptance) coping styles. Coping mediated the relation between mindset and resilience in the total sample (both coping styles), and growth mindset intervention subsample (maladaptive coping). We found unique evidence for the beneficial effects of growth mindset on school-related resilience during the pandemic, and the mediating effect of coping styles as explanatory mechanism. This work contributes to a growing literature that shows positive effects of growth mindset on mental health.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-33392-9