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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Rehabilitation
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1520645
This article is part of the Research Topic Navigating the Storm: Addressing Mental and Behavioral Health Challenges in Disadvantaged Children, Adolescents and Young Adults (CAYA) View all 9 articles

Exploring the impact of Growth Mindset on Psychological symptoms in students from Ethnic Regions of China: How meaning in life makes a difference

Provisionally accepted
Zuozhi Fang Zuozhi Fang Zhongfang Fu Zhongfang Fu *
  • School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Drawing on implicit belief theory, this study investigates the relationship between growth mindset and Psychological symptoms in adolescents from ethnic regions in China, highlighting the mediating role of meaning in life. Study 1 used a cross-sectional mediation model with a sample of 1,184 middle school students, employing the Chinese versions of the Growth Mindset Scale, Meaning in Life Scale, and Psychological Symptoms Scale. The findings reveal that growth mindset significantly predicted psychological symptoms and their subdimensions, with meaning in life mediating this association. To further elucidate this association on a temporal scale, Study 2 employed a longitudinal mediation model, tracking 618 middle school students over six months. Results confirmed that growth mindset at T1 predicted psychological symptoms at T2, with meaning in life serving as a partial mediator. These findings together offer insights into the mechanisms by which growth mindset influences Psychological symptoms in adolescents, emphasizing the importance of life meaning in this process.

    Keywords: growth mindset, meaning in life, Mental Health, Ethnic regions, Disadvantaged adolescents

    Received: 31 Oct 2024; Accepted: 20 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Fang and Fu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Zhongfang Fu, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.