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

Helping students to face academic failures: Evaluation of a growth mindset intervention among primary school students in China

Students commonly struggle with academic failure. Innovative interventions aimed at improving the essential components of academic success are therefore needed. The aim of this study was to test whether teaching a growth mindset of intelligence (the belief that intelligence is malleable and can be developed) could improve students' attitudes towards failure and academic outcomes. In particular, we explored whether students' perceived parental beliefs about failure influenced the effect of a growth mindset intervention. We tested the 8-session growth mindset intervention in a sample of 1766 Chinese primary school students (age M = 10.61; SD = .99). Measures of mindset of intelligence, failure belief, positive strategies, and academic achievement were completed at baseline (T1) and 3-month follow-up (T2). In comparison to the control group, students in the intervention group reported a stronger growth mindset of intelligence at 3-month follow-up, which in turn indirectly increased their positive failure belief and inclinations of positive strategies when facing failures. Moreover, these beneficial effects of the growth mindset intervention were sustained only when students perceived relatively more supportive parental beliefs about failure. Additionally, the growth mindset intervention to some extent protected students' academic achievement from a downward trajectory at follow-up. Collectively, the findings highlight the promising effects of a growth mindset intervention on students' academic-related outcomes.

A randomized controlled trial testing theory-driven enhancements to increase the efficacy of and engagement in a brief cognitive-behavioural therapy text-message intervention for co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and alcohol misuse

OBJECTIVE

Engaging individuals with co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol misuse (AM) in effective treatments is difficult. Brief, self-directed approaches that deliver empirically supported intervention techniques, such as cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) strategies, via technology may be effective and easier-to-access alternatives to traditional in-person therapy approaches for PTSD + AM. This paper describes the protocol for an intervention development study (NCT05372042) that evaluates a text-message intervention combining CBT texts with techniques from cognitive psychology (message framing) and social psychology (growth mindsets) for treatment of PTSD + AM.

METHOD

The study uses a 3 (message framing: gain vs. loss vs. no framing) × 2 (mindset: growth mindsets vs. not) factorial design to test enhancements to CBT texts. Individuals age 18+, who report symptoms of PTSD and AM, will be recruited to participate. Participants will complete screening, verification, and baseline measures. They will be randomized to condition and receive 3 text messages per week for 4 weeks. Participants will be assessed at post-, 1-, and 3-month follow-up.

RESULTS

Analyses will evaluate whether framing and growth mindsets enhance the efficacy of CBT texts. A priori decision rules will be applied to select the intervention condition that is both the most effective and the simplest, which will be tested in a follow-up randomized controlled trial.

CONCLUSIONS

This study will identify the simplest, most efficacious CBT intervention for PTSD + AM. Its use of cognitive and social psychology-based enhancement and of a factorial decision can serve as examples of how to enhance and increase engagement in brief, self-directed CBT interventions.

PACT: Developing and Evaluating a Digital Sexual Consent Program for Youth

Understanding affirmative sexual consent is crucial for violence prevention and health promotion, yet few adolescents receive adequate consent education. The current study aimed to evaluate the acceptability and preliminary efficacy of a brief online program designed to teach adolescents information and skills about communicating and interpreting affirmative sexual consent (PACT: Promoting Affirmative Consent among Teens) in a randomized controlled trial with a national sample of 833 U.S. adolescents (ages 14-16; 42% White, 17% Asian, 17% Black, 13% Latinx; 53% girls, 31% boys, 12% non-binary; 45% heterosexual; 29% sexually active). PACT, grounded in health behavior change and persuasion theories, was developed using feedback from youth advisors and usability testers. Participants considered the program generally acceptable. Compared to youth who completed a control program, PACT was efficacious at shifting three measures of affirmative consent cognitions (i.e., knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy) from baseline to immediate posttest. Youth who completed PACT also demonstrated more accurate affirmative consent knowledge at 3 months post-baseline. PACT's effects on consent cognitions were generally similar among youth with various gender, racial/ethnic, and sexual identities. We discuss next steps for this program, including the possibilities of expanding to include additional concepts and tailoring to address the unique needs of specific youth.

Exploring positive psychology intervention and mindfulness-based intervention in nature: impact on well-being of school students in India

Introduction

Enhancing the well-being of urban school students is a growing challenge. The online mode of teaching during and post-pandemic era has increased students' daily screen time. As they spend more time indoors, they tend to disconnect from nature even more, adversely impacting their well-being. This study aimed to design and execute two well-being interventions-a positive psychology intervention (PPI) and a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) in natural settings for urban school students in India.

Methods

One hundred eighty participants (aged 17-20) from a senior secondary school were randomly assigned to three groups: PPI, MBI, and a control group (CTR). Participants self-reported their levels of well-being, gratitude, inclusion of nature in self, sense of connectedness, resilience, awareness, perceived stress, and positive and negative emotions using a survey questionnaire at two times-pre- and post-interventions. Repeated-measures ANOVA was employed across time and groups, and post hoc analyses for group differences were carried out through the Bonferroni test.

Results

Results indicate that both PPI and MBI interventions, when executed in natural settings, enhance student well-being, gratitude, inclusion of nature in self, sense of connectedness, resilience, awareness, positive emotions and decreased levels of perceived stress, and negative emotions.

Discussion

The study provides valuable insights for school authorities, policymakers, and urban planners to include natural settings in school premises and offer well-being interventions for students to connect with nature consciously.

Reading struggle stories of role models can improve the perseverance of undergraduates with low perseverance

Perseverance refers to the ability that individuals show in the process of overcoming failure repeatedly and achieving success. The present study aimed to investigate how many stories about struggling role models undergraduates with a low level of perseverance need to read to effectively improve their perseverance after experiencing failure. Undergraduates with high and low levels of perseverance who had experienced failure were randomly assigned to read 5 struggle stories or 5 achievement stories of role models. They were asked to report their confidence in success, their emotional experience, and their persistent intentions after experiencing failure (i.e., their initial report after reading 0 stories) and then again after reading each story. The results showed that the participants' initially reported level of confidence in success improved after reading 1 struggle story of a role model and further improved after reading 5 struggle stories of role models. Furthermore, the participants' initially reported level of positive emotions increased after reading 1 struggle story or 1 achievement story of a role model, and the positive effects began to level off after reading 4 struggle stories or 4 achievement stories of role models. The participants' initially reported persistent intentions improved after reading 5 struggle stories of role models. These findings reveal that undergraduates can benefit from reading struggle stories of role models regardless of their perseverance levels. Undergraduates' confidence in success and their emotional experience can be improved more quickly than their persistent intentions after experiencing failure.

The What, Why, and How of Adolescent Interpersonal Goal Setting Following a Growth Mindset Intervention

Interpersonal relationships are central to adolescent well-being. The current research investigates interpersonal goal setting among a general sample of adolescents following a growth mindset intervention. This study qualitatively explores what interpersonal goals adolescents set, outcomes they aim to achieve, obstacles they perceive, and actions to overcome the obstacle during the mental contrasting and the implementation intentions goal setting task (MCII). Participants included 217 grade 9 and 12 students (63.13% White/European). One content and three thematic analyses were conducted on adolescent responses to the MCII. Participants largely set goals related to improving the quantity and quality of their friendships. The ultimate ideal outcome of goal achievement was an improved emotional state. Obstacles were both internal (e.g., characteristics) or external (e.g., others) in nature. Actions identified to overcome the obstacle were either active or passive with passive approaches exhibiting lack of congruence with intervention content. Findings contribute to the empirical understanding of adolescent interpersonal goal setting and provide researchers/practitioners a rich resource of youth experiences to draw on when considering goal setting interventions. A better understanding of adolescents’ lived experiences setting goals also stands to benefit those who seek to aid youth in improving well-being.

How job complexity fosters employee creativity: a contextualized growth perspective and the mechanism of feedback-seeking

Purpose

Drawing on the work design growth model (WDGM), this paper aims to explore the relationship between job complexity and employee creativity through feedback-seeking and the moderating effect of team leaders with a growth creative mindset.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used an online survey to test the hypotheses. Data was collected in three waves from 74 supervisors and 349 paired employees in China.

Findings

Job complexity had a positive association with employees’ feedback-seeking, which further linked to employee creativity. This indirect effect was stronger in work teams with leaders endorsing a growth creative mindset.

Practical implications

Job complexity has become prevalent in organizations today. Taking daily complexity as a resource for nurturing employee creativity may balance organizations’ costs on formal training and give them more initiatives in long-term development. In addition, as the growth creative mindset is relatively easy to assess and change, it may bring insights in terms of creativity development.

Originality/value

By empirically testing the behavioural mechanism of WDGM, the learning and development perspective of work design offers a new explanation of the relationship between job complexity and employee creativity. The authors further extend WDGM by identifying leaders’ growth creative mindset to be a boundary condition.

Effects of ASQE-based learning on the information literacy, problem-solving and critical thinking of students with different growth mindsets

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the information literacy (IL) performance and higher order thinking skills of students with different levels of growth mindset and their perceptions of library-supported learning by using the annotate, summarize, question and evaluate (ASQE)-based learning approach.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, the ASQE-based learning approach was applied to the learning activities to cultivate students’ IL, problem-solving awareness and critical thinking tendency. A total of 60 postgraduate students were invited to participate in this study. In addition, students’ perceptions of library-supported learning were analysed via drawing analysis.

Findings

Introducing ASQE-based learning into an IL learning activity promoted reflection and thought and had positive effects on students’ problem-solving awareness and on the critical thinking tendency of students with different levels of growth mindset. Additionally, the drawing analysis indicated that most of the students with low levels of growth mindset believed that learners should actively study in the library and students with higher levels of growth mindset preferred more motivating and enjoyable learning environments.

Originality/value

The findings of this study demonstrate that the ASQE-based learning approach can improve higher order thinking skills of students with different levels of growth mindset. In addition, this study examined the perceptions of students with different levels of growth mindset of library-supported learning via drawing analysis.

The Influence of Growth Mindset on the Mental Health and Life Events of College Students

Growth mindset refers to our core belief that our talents can be developed through practice, which may influence our thoughts and behaviors. Growth mindset has been studied in a variety of fields, including education, sports, and management. However, few studies have explored whether differences in individuals' growth mindsets influence college students' self-reported mental health. Using the Growth Mindset Scale, Adolescent Self-rating Life Events Checklist, and SCL-90 Scale, data was collected from 2,505 freshmen in a University in China. Findings revealed that the students within the growth mindset group scored significantly lower on "mental health issues" and "stress due to life events" than the students in the fixed mindset group. Our findings suggest that individuals with a growth mindset are less prone to mental health problems than individuals with a fixed mindset.

What Characterises an Effective Mindset Intervention in Enhancing Students’ Learning? A Systematic Literature Review

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to interventions designed to enhance individuals’ sustainable development in learning by priming a growth mindset. The current study systematically explored the characteristics of message transformation in growth mindset interventions from the perspective of teaching and learning. According to a three-phase literature search (database, prominent researchers, and backtracking references), thirty-eight empirical studies investigating the efficacy of mindset interventions for adolescents of school age constitute the sample for the current literature review. The results indicate that a supportive but not-completely-saturated learning environment paves the way to implementing a mindset intervention. The three pedagogical characteristics that ensure successful interventions are: (1) Mutual interaction among the person, the context, and the theory to generate the message; (2) Iterative processes to ensure the message is delivered; and (3) a persuasive yet stealthy approach to facilitating its internalization. The findings inspire educators to design effective mindset interventions to enhance students’ learning. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Mindset Theory and School Psychology

Mindset theory is an achievement motivation theory that centers on the concept of the malleability of abilities. According to mindset theory, students tend to have either a growth mindset or a fixed mindset about their intelligence; students with a growth mindset tend to believe that intelligence is malleable, whereas students with fixed mindsets tend to believe that intelligence is unchangeable. As described in many empirical and theoretical papers, the mindset a student holds can influence important psychological and behavioral factors, including reaction to failure, persistence and level of effort, and expectations of success, which ultimately impact academic achievement. Importantly, mindsets can be changed, and interventions have been developed to promote a more growth mindset. A growth mindset allows students to view challenges as an opportunity for improvement, is linked to enjoyment of learning, and increases motivation in school. School psychologists are often working with students with learning differences and/or mental health concerns who are particularly at-risk for poor academic achievement, and researchers have demonstrated the important impact a growth mindset can have for these vulnerable students. School psychologists are well-positioned to incorporate mindset theory into the school environment in order to best support the students they serve. In this paper we provide a theoretical overview of mindset theory and mindset interventions, and specifically review the literature on mindset theory for individuals with learning disabilities and mental health challenges. We discuss how school psychologists can incorporate mindset theory into their practice to support the shift from a fixed to a growth mindset for all students.

Effectiveness of the online mindset intervention 'The Growth Factory' for adolescents with intellectual disabilities

BACKGROUND

This study examines participant satisfaction and effectiveness of the online mindset intervention 'The Growth Factory' (TGF) for youth with intellectual disabilities using a randomised controlled trial design.

METHOD

Youth with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities (N = 119; 12-23 years) were randomly assigned to TGF (n = 60) or control group (n = 59). Primary outcome measures were mindsets and perseverance. Secondary outcomes were empowerment, mental health problems, self-esteem, treatment motivation, therapeutic alliance and challenge seeking. Measurements were conducted at pre-test, post-test and at 3 and 6 months follow-up.

RESULTS

TGF had positive effects on perseverance, mental health problems, self-esteem and therapeutic alliance at post-test. TGF had follow-up effects on mental health problems (3 months), mindset of intelligence (3 and 6 months) and mindset of emotion and behaviour (6 months).

CONCLUSIONS

TGF offers a promising add-on intervention complementing usual care programmes accelerating improvements in mindsets and mental health in youth with intellectual disabilities.

Identifying Supportive Student Factors for Mindset Interventions: A Two-model Machine Learning Approach

Growth mindset interventions foster students' beliefs that their abilities can grow through effort and appropriate strategies. However, not every student benefits from such interventions - yet research identifying which student factors support growth mindset interventions is sparse. In this study, we utilized machine learning methods to predict growth mindset effectiveness in a nationwide experiment in the U.S. with over 10,000 students. These methods enable analysis of arbitrarily-complex interactions between combinations of student-level predictor variables and intervention outcome, defined as the improvement in grade point average (GPA) during the transition to high school. We utilized two separate machine learning models: one to control for complex relationships between 51 student-level predictors and GPA, and one to predict the change in GPA due to the intervention. We analyzed the trained models to discover which features influenced model predictions most, finding that prior academic achievement, blocked navigations (attempting to navigate through the intervention software too quickly), self-reported reasons for learning, and race/ethnicity were the most important predictors in the model for predicting intervention effectiveness. As in previous research, we found that the intervention was most effective for students with prior low academic achievement. Unique to this study, we found that blocked navigations predicted an intervention effect as low as 0.185 GPA points (on a 0-4 scale) less than the mean. This was a notable negative prediction given that the mean intervention effect in our sample was just 0.026 GPA points, though few students (4.4%) experienced a substantial number of blocked navigation events. We also found that some minoritized students were predicted to benefit less (or even not at all) from the intervention. Our findings have implications for the design of computer-administered growth mindset interventions, especially in relation to students who experience procedural difficulties completing the intervention.

From shared climate to personal ecosystems: Why some people create unique environments

Much of organizational behavior research looks at how social context influences individuals’ experiences and behaviors. We add to this view by arguing that some individuals create their own contexts, and do so in a way that follows them across dyads, groups, and organizations. We call these individual-specific contexts “personal ecosystems,” and propose that they are created when an actor consistently engages in visible behaviors that trigger similar and visible reactions across targets of that behavior. We attribute the formation of personal ecosystems to social inertia, and identify three individual traits that increase the likelihood that an individual’s behavior is consistent across people and situations: low self-monitoring, implicit beliefs, and low levels of emotional intelligence. Finally, we discuss why understanding personal ecosystems is important for organizations, identify managerial implications of this phenomenon, and strategies for diminishing the likelihood of having personal ecosystems.

Growth mindset, delayed gratification, and learning outcome: evidence from a field survey of least-advantaged private schools in Depok-Indonesia

Indonesian students perform poorly compared with students in other countries, despite education taking a significant portion of the national budget. Although poor infrastructure is often blamed for this failure, several reports show that it may not be the sole determinant of learning outcomes. Using the concepts of a growth mindset and delayed gratification as proxies for human behavior, we conducted a field survey of four highly disadvantaged private schools in Depok, West Java, Indonesia to observe how human behaviors affect learning outcomes. We use a self-administered mathematics test to measure learning outcomes, and construct a questionnaire based on Dweck's Implicit Theory of Intelligence to measure students' growth mindset. Delayed gratification is measured using a Convex Time Budget (CTB) questionnaire. Controlling for various student characteristics, our estimations show that a more pronounced growth mindset is associated with better math scores. Meanwhile, delayed gratification has mixed effects on learning outcomes: it has no significant effect when the relationship is estimated using an Interval Censored Regression (ICR), but has some statistical significance when an Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression is used. These results imply that a student's beliefs on a growing intelligence can affect their academic achievement, whereas the ability to resist temptation has inconclusive effects on academic achievement. This difference may be caused by several factors such as the developmental stage of students. Interestingly, satisfactory teaching practices do not necessarily lead to better math scores. Our findings, therefore, suggest that future education policy design must consider aspects of human behavior in order to more optimally benefit students.

Planting the Seeds: Orchestral Music Education as a Context for Fostering Growth Mindsets

Growth mindset is an important aspect of children's socioemotional development and is subject to change due to environmental influence. Orchestral music education may function as a fertile context in which to promote growth mindset; however, this education is not widely available to children facing economic hardship. This study examined whether participation in a program of orchestral music education was associated with higher levels of overall growth mindset and greater change in levels of musical growth mindset among children placed at risk by poverty. After at least 2 years of orchestral participation, students reported significantly higher levels of overall growth mindset than their peers; participating students also reported statistically significant increases in musical growth mindset regardless of the number of years that they were enrolled in orchestral music education. These findings have implications for future research into specific pedagogical practices that may promote growth mindset in the context of orchestral music education and more generally for future studies of the extra-musical benefits of high-quality music education.

Implicit theories of self-regulated learning: Interplay with students' achievement goals, learning strategies, and metacognition

BACKGROUND

Implicit theories are important belief systems that influence an individual's motivation and behaviour. In academic contexts, domain-general implicit theories of ability (e.g., intelligence) and their relation to self-regulated learning (SRL) have been examined.

AIMS

In this study, we followed a domain-specific approach and first introduced scales to assess students' implicit theories of the malleability and of the relevance of SRL. Second, we investigated how implicit theories of SRL are related to students' SRL. Third, we examined the relationship of implicit theories of SRL with students' demographics and personality traits.

SAMPLE

Participants were students from a medium-sized university in Germany (N = 254) aged M = 23.85 years.

METHODS

Data on students' demographics and personality traits, implicit theories of intelligence (INT), achievement goals, and learning strategies were collected with well-established measures. In addition, students' implicit theories of SRL and their declarative metacognitive knowledge about SRL were assessed with measures developed within this study. Confirmatory factor analyses and regression analyses were performed.

RESULTS

The two postulated dimensions of implicit theories of SRL were supported. As expected, implicit theories of SRL were more strongly related to students' achievement goals, learning strategies, and metacognitive knowledge than implicit theories of INT. Moreover, implicit theories of SRL were mostly unrelated to students' demographics and personality traits.

CONCLUSION

The results emphasize that domain-specific implicit theories of SRL contribute substantially to the explanation of students' SRL. Thus, further research on SRL should consider domain-specific implicit theories of SRL in addition to implicit theories of INT.

Understanding Adolescents' Attitudes Toward Affirmative Consent

A clear understanding of sexual consent is important for sexual violence prevention. To date, most research has focused on how college students understand and negotiate consent. Although adolescence is a critical period for the development of sexual attitudes, identity, and intimate relationships, the perspectives of high school-aged youth have been largely absent from the consent literature. The current study investigated adolescents' attitudes toward affirmative consent in a sample of 226 high school students (58% female; 46% White, 24% Black, 25% Hispanic) from the southeastern U.S., as well as associations between affirmative consent attitudes and gender, gender role beliefs, and sexual activity status. Additionally, we tested whether gender role beliefs were a mediator between gender and affirmative consent attitudes. Overall, adolescents reported supportive attitudes toward affirmative consent. On average, girls and adolescents with more egalitarian gender role beliefs had more positive attitudes toward affirmative consent than boys and those with less egalitarian gender role beliefs, though no differences by sexual activity status were found. Gender role beliefs mediated the relationship between gender and attitudes toward affirmative consent. The results suggest that adolescents are generally supportive of affirmative consent practices, although some important group differences emerged.

A Structural Equation Model of Perceived Autonomy Support and Growth Mindset in Undergraduate Students: The Mediating Role of Sense of Coherence

Although prior research has extensively documented the correlates of growth mindset, little is known about its antecedents in undergraduate students. Guided by the self-determination theory, the current study investigated the association of perceived autonomy support (i.e., parental autonomy support and teacher autonomy support) with growth mindset and assessed whether sense of coherence mediated this association. A total of 1,030 Chinese undergraduate students (62.4% females; M _age = 20.44, SD = 1.52) aged from 18 to 25 years were involved in this study; they were asked to fill out a set of self-reported questionnaires. Results of the structural equation modeling showed that sense of coherence fully mediated the association between parental autonomy support and growth mindset and between teacher autonomy support and growth mindset. More precisely, parental autonomy support and teacher autonomy support were each positively associated with sense of coherence, which in turn was positively related to growth mindset. The current findings further confirm the beneficial effect of autonomy support on individuals' adaptive skills in a collective cultural context, suggesting that autonomy-supportive parents and teachers can contribute to undergraduate students' growth mindset through the role of sense of coherence.

Authorship stories panel discussion: Fostering ethical authorship by cultivating a growth mindset

Because peer review publication is essential for academic advancement across scientific fields, when authorship is wrongly attributed the consequences can be profound, particularly for junior researchers who are still establishing their professional norms and scientific reputations. Professional societies have published guidelines for authorship, yet authorship dilemmas frequently arise and have harmful consequences for scientific careers. Researchers have noted the complexities of authorship and called for new mechanisms to foster more ethical research cultures within institutions. To address this call, we organized a panel discussion at the Institute for Clinical Research Education at the University of Pittsburgh in which senior faculty members from diverse backgrounds and professional disciplines discussed their own authorship challenges (e.g., renegotiating author order, reconciling inter-professional authorship norms, managing coauthor power differentials) and offered strategies to avoid and/or resolve them. Informed by growth mind-set theory, our storytelling format facilitated an open exchange between senior and junior researchers, situated authorship dilemmas in specific contexts and career stages, and taught researchers how to address authorship challenges not adequately informed by guideline recommendations. Though not empirically assessed, we believe this approach represents a simple, low-cost, and replicable way to cultivate ethical and transparent authorship practices among researchers across scientific fields.

Healthy Body, Healthy Mind: A Mindset Intervention for Obese Youth

As growth mindset intervention research continues to develop, more work is needed to understand how to most effectively implement these interventions to encourage healthy cognitions and behaviors. The present study details the initial testing of a single-session, online mindset intervention (Healthy Body, Healthy Mind) for obese children and adolescents enrolled in obesity treatment clinics. Using a pre to post-test design, results indicated that growth mindsets of health and cognitions related to health behavior (nutrition and exercise self-efficacy and perceived control) increased significantly. However, despite efforts to mitigate feelings of culpability, blame also increased from pretest to post-test. Yet, body dissatisfaction decreased significantly. Intrinsic value for health behaviors remained unchanged from pretest to post-test. Analysis of narratives suggests that youth were engaged with the intervention content. Additionally, when youth's narratives incorporated themes related to the changeable nature of the attribute, they also self-reported stronger growth mindsets. In the discussion, we note implications of findings for the development of large-scale health-based growth mindset interventions that are developmentally-appropriate for children and adolescents.

Cyberbullying Victimization and Adolescent Depression: The Mediating Role of Psychological Security and the Moderating Role of Growth Mindset

The objective of this study was to examine the mechanisms (the mediating role of psychological security and the moderating role of growth mindset) underlying the association between cyberbullying victimization and depression among adolescents. A sample of 755 adolescents (Mage = 13.35 ± 1.02; 373 boys) was recruited from two junior high schools, and the participants were asked to voluntarily complete a set of measures, including the cyberbullying victimization subscale in the Chinese version of the Cyberbullying Inventory, the Chinese version of the Security Questionnaire, the Chinese version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and the Growth Mindset Inventory. The results indicated that: (1) cyberbullying victimization was positively associated with depression through the mediating effect of psychological security and (2) both the direct association between cyberbullying victimization and depression and the indirect association through the mediating effect of psychological security were moderated by growth mindset. Specifically, growth mindset could significantly alleviate the adverse effects of cyberbullying victimization on psychological security and on depression. These findings not only shed light on the mechanisms linking cyberbullying victimization to depression among adolescents, but also provide an empirical basis for formulating prevention and/or intervention programs aimed at reducing depression levels and the negative influences of cyberbullying victimization among adolescents.

Evaluation of an Online Sexual Health Program among Adolescent Girls with Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties

OBJECTIVES

Adolescent girls with emotional and behavioral difficulties (EBDs) have a heightened risk of negative sexual health, including HIV, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and unplanned pregnancy. Few evidence-based sexual health interventions are available for adolescent girls with EBDs. This study tested the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a brief, online sexual health program called HEART (Health Education and Relationship Training).

METHODS

Forty-seven participants (M-age = 15.79; SD = 1.71; 62% Black, 23% Hispanic) recruited from community-based organizations in the southeastern U.S. were compared to a non-equivalent comparison group who received an attention-matched intervention.

RESULTS

Findings support the feasibility of participant recruitment and program administration in community-based settings. Participants completed HEART in 44 minutes and experienced few technological difficulties. HEART was highly acceptable: most participants liked, learned from, and were engaged with the program. Further, 92% would recommend HEART to a friend and 98% would use what they learned in the future. At posttest, intervention participants had significantly higher communication intentions, communication skills, STI/HIV knowledge, sexual self-efficacy, condom attitudes, and condom norms than the comparison group (ps < .003; effect size ds = .38-1.65). Significant improvement in condom intentions was observed when comparing pretest to posttest scores among intervention participants only, t(46) = -3.21, d = 0.47.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings support the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of HEART among adolescent girls with EBDs in community-based settings. This study also addresses the growing need for research into the transferability of sexual health interventions to facilitate evidence-based decision-making about program dissemination and implementation.

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Efficacy of a Brief Online Sexual Health Program for Adolescents

This study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a 45-minute interactive, online sexual health program for adolescents, called Health Education and Relationship Training (HEART). The program was originally developed and evaluated among adolescent girls (HEART for Girls); the current project describes and evaluates a new version of the program that was adapted for boys and girls. Participants were 226 high school students (mean age = 16.3; 58% girls; 46% White; 79% heterosexual). Students were randomized to HEART or an attention-matched control and assessed at pre-test and immediate post-test. Overall, the program was feasible to administer in a school setting and youth found the program highly acceptable (83% liked the program, 87% learned new things, and 93% would use program content in the future). At post-test, students who completed HEART demonstrated improvements on every outcome we examined: sexual communication intentions, condom use intentions, HIV/STD knowledge, condom attitudes, condom norms, self-efficacy to practice safer sex, and sexual assertiveness compared to control participants (effect size ds = .23 to 1.27). Interactions by gender and sexual orientation revealed the program was equally acceptable and worked equally well for boys and girls and for heterosexual and sexual minority youth. We propose several avenues to further adapt and tailor HEART given its promise in promoting adolescent sexual health.

Growth mindsets and psychological distress: A meta-analysis

We investigated if growth mindsets-the belief in the malleable nature of human attributes-are negatively related to psychological distress and if they are positively related to treatment value and active coping. In the meta-analysis, we included articles published between 1988 and 2019, written in English, that reported on mindsets as well as a qualifying dependent variable and included information required to calculate an effect size. With a random effects approach, meta-analytic results (k = 72 samples, N = 17,692) demonstrated that mindsets relate, albeit with minimal effects, to distress, treatment and coping. Specifically, there is a negative relation between growth mindsets and psychological distress (r = -0.220), a positive relation between growth mindsets and treatment value (r = 0.137) and a positive relation between growth mindsets and active coping (r = 0.207). Differences in mindset domain, assessment method of mindsets and timing of assessments moderated effects. There were not differences based on operationalization of psychological distress outcome or sample characteristics (i.e., developmental stage, diagnostic status, ethnicity). We discuss theoretical and practical applications of the findings.

A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of a Web-Based Growth Mindset Intervention to Enhance the Effectiveness of a Smartphone App for Smoking Cessation

Background

Although smartphone apps have shown promise for smoking cessation, there is a need to enhance their low engagement rates. This study evaluated the application of the growth mindset theory, which has demonstrated the potential to improve persistence in behavior change in other domains, as a means to improve engagement and cessation.

Objective

This study aimed to explore the feasibility, utility, and efficacy of a Web-based growth mindset intervention for addiction when used alongside a smoking cessation app.

Methods

Daily smokers (N=398) were all recruited on the Web and randomly assigned to receive either a cessation app alone or the app plus a Web-delivered growth mindset intervention. The primary outcome was engagement, that is, the number of log-ins to the smoking cessation app. The secondary outcome was 30-day point prevalence abstinence at 2-month follow-up collected through a Web-based survey.

Results

The 2-month outcome data retention rate was 91.5% (364/398). In addition, 77.9% (310/398) of the participants in the experimental arm viewed at least 1 page of their growth mindset intervention, and 21.1% (84/398) of the group viewed all the growth mindset intervention. The intention-to-treat analysis did not show statistically significant differences between the experimental and comparison arms on log-ins to the app (19.46 vs 21.61; P=.38). The experimental arm had cessation rates, which trended higher than the comparison arm (17% vs 13%; P=.10). The modified intent-to-treat analysis, including only participants who used their assigned intervention at least once (n=115 in experimental group and n=151 in the control group), showed that the experimental arm had a similar number of log-ins (32.31 vs 28.48; P=.55) but significantly higher cessation rates (21% vs 13%; P=.03) than the comparison arm.

Conclusions

A growth mindset intervention for addiction did not increase engagement rates, although it may increase cessation rates when used alongside a smartphone app for smoking cessation. Future research is required to refine the intervention and assess efficacy with long-term follow-up to evaluate the efficacy of the mindset intervention.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03174730; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03174730

Randomized Trial of a Single-Session Growth Mind-Set Intervention for Rural Adolescents' Internalizing and Externalizing Problems

Adolescents living in rural regions of the United States face substantial barriers to accessing mental health services, creating needs for more accessible, nonstigmatizing, briefer interventions. Research suggests that single-session "growth mind-set" interventions (GM-SSIs)-which teach the belief that personal traits are malleable through effort-may reduce internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescents. However, GM-SSIs have not been evaluated among rural youth, and their effects on internalizing and externalizing problems have not been assessed within a single trial, rendering their relative benefits for different problem types unclear. We examined whether a computerized GM-SSI could reduce depressive symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, and conduct problems in female adolescents from rural areas of the United States. Tenth-grade female adolescents (N = 222, M age = 15.2, 38% White, 25% Black, 29% Hispanic) from 4 rural, low-income high schools in the southeastern United States were randomized to receive a 45-min GM-SSI or a computer-based active control program, teaching healthy sexual behaviors. Young women self-reported depression symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, and conduct problem behaviors at baseline and 4-month follow-up. Relative to the female students in the control group, the students receiving the GM-SSI reported modest but significantly greater reductions in depressive symptoms (d= .23) and likelihood of reporting elevated depressive symptoms (d= .29) from baseline to follow-up. GM-SSI effects were nonsignificant for social anxiety symptoms, although a small effect size emerged in the hypothesized direction (d= .21), and nonsignificant for change in conduct problems (d= .01). A free-of-charge 45-min GM-SSI may help reduce internalizing distress, especially depression-but not conduct problems-in rural female adolescents.

Implicit Theories of Intelligence and Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Review

The current study intended to model the link between implicit theories of intelligence (ITI) and students' academic achievement, within a meta-analytic review procedure. To assess studies' effect size, the Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) was used. The review of 46 studies (94 effect sizes) with 412,022 students presented a low-to-moderate association between the ITI and students' academic achievement. The results indicated that incremental theorists are more likely to have higher grades in specific subjects (verbal and quantitative) and in overall achievement. The entity beliefs were positively associated with students' specific verbal and quantitative domains but at a lower magnitude than incremental beliefs. Moreover, the moderator effect analyses results indicated that the link between ITI and students' achievement was not moderated by gender, but there was a moderate association in student's middle school grade. Additionally, the ITI assessment based on the most recent versions of Dweck's scales, the use of specific academic scales instead of general ITI scales, and the use of the original measures rather than adapted versions strongly moderated the link between ITI and achievement. Moreover, students from Eastern continents (Asia and Oceania) reported a positive association between incremental beliefs and achievement, Europe displayed a positive link between entity beliefs and achievement, whereas North America presented negative correlations between entity perspectives and academic achievement. This meta-analysis updates the current evidence supporting the direct link of ITI and students' academic achievement and acknowledges specific effects that ITI could have in different academic outcomes.

Sexual Assertiveness Skills and Sexual Decision-Making in Adolescent Girls: Randomized Controlled Trial of an Online Program

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the efficacy of an interactive, Web-based sexual health program (Health Education and Relationship Training [HEART]) for developing sexual assertiveness skills and enhancing sexual decision-making in adolescent girls.

METHODS

Participants were 222 tenth-grade girls (mean age = 15.2; 38% White, 29% Hispanic, 25% Black) in the Southeastern United States who were randomized in fall 2015 to the HEART intervention or an attention-matched control. We assessed participants at pretest, immediate posttest, and 4-month follow-up.

RESULTS

Both groups had similar demographic and sexual behavior characteristics at pretest. At immediate posttest, girls who completed the HEART program demonstrated better sexual assertiveness skills measured with a behavioral task, higher self-reported assertiveness, intentions to communicate about sexual health, knowledge regarding HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), safer sex norms and attitudes, and condom self-efficacy compared with the control condition. At 4-month follow-up, group differences remained in knowledge regarding HIV and other STDs, condom attitudes, and condom self-efficacy.

CONCLUSIONS

This brief online sexual health program can improve short-term outcomes among adolescent girls and offers an exciting new option in the growing array of digital health interventions available to youths.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

NCT02579135.