An online growth mindset intervention in a sample of rural adolescent girls

• Published in: British journal of educational psychology 2018-09, Vol.88 (3), p.428-445
• Main Authors: Burnette, Jeni L., Russell, Michelle V., Hoyt, Crystal L., Orvidas, Kasey, Widman, Laura
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; academic interventions; Academic Success; Achievement Gap; Adolescent; Adolescent girls; Adolescents; belonging; Clinical trials; Control Groups; Educational Attainment; Educational psychology; Efficacy; Experimental Groups; Female; Females; Follow-Up Studies; Girls; Grade 10; growth mindsets; Health Education; High School Students; Humans; Intelligence; Intervention; Learning; Learning Motivation; Low Income; Motivation; Outcomes of Education; Poverty; Pretests Posttests; Psychotherapy - methods; Random sampling; Randomized Controlled Trials; Rural Areas; Rural communities; Rural Population; Sampling; Secondary schools; Self Efficacy; Self-Control - psychology; Sex Education; Sexual Behavior - psychology; Sexual health; Sexuality; Social Skills; Southeastern United States; Student Attitudes; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 0007-0998; 2044-8279
• DOI: 10.1111/bjep.12192

Background Students living in rural areas of the United States exhibit lower levels of educational attainment than their suburban counterparts. Innovative interventions are needed to close this educational achievement gap. Aims We investigated whether an online growth mindset intervention could be leveraged to promote academic outcomes. Sample We tested the mindset intervention in a sample of 222 10th‐grade adolescent girls (M age = 15.2; 38% White, 25% Black, 29% Hispanic) from four rural, low‐income high schools in the Southeastern United States. Methods We conducted a randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of the growth mindset intervention, relative to a sexual health programme. We used random sampling and allocation procedures to assign girls to either the mindset intervention (n = 115) or an attention‐matched control programme (n = 107). We assessed participants at pre‐test, immediate post‐test, and 4‐month follow‐up. Results Relative to the control condition, students assigned to the mindset intervention reported stronger growth mindsets at immediate post‐test and 4‐month follow‐up. Although the intervention did not have a total effect on academic attitudes or grades, it indirectly increased motivation to learn, learning efficacy and grades via the shifts in growth mindsets. Conclusions Results indicate that this intervention is a promising method to encourage growth mindsets in rural adolescent girls.