Correlations Between Mindset and Participation in Everyday Activities Among Healthy Adolescents

Importance: Mindsets are personal beliefs that one’s abilities and personality traits can be improved and modified through education and effort. It is known that mindsets contribute to behavior and achievements; however, research on mindsets in the context of participation is still lacking. Objective: To assess the correlations between mindsets and dimensions of participation among healthy adolescents and to explore the unique contribution of mindsets to the total explained variance of adolescents’ participation diversity, frequency, independence, enjoyment, and satisfaction. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Community in Israel. Participants: Healthy adolescents (N 5 115; 63 females, 52 males) ages 11 to 16 yr (M age 5 13.77, SD 5 1.22) and their parents. Outcomes and Measures: The Mindset and Perseverance Questionnaire was used to assess mindsets regarding intelligence, emotions and behavior, and perseverance. The Adolescence Participation Questionnaire was used to assess participation in daily activities. Results: Mindset regarding emotions, behavior, and perseverance was positively and moderately associated with all participation measures aside from diversity. Mindset regarding intelligence was not associated with participation. The regression analysis indicates that the explanatory variables had a significant modest contribution of 6% to 13% to the total explained variance in adolescents’ participation frequency, independence, and enjoyment. Of note, mindset regarding perseverance was found to be the main predictor. Conclusions and Relevance: Mindsets and participation are correlated. Beliefs regarding perseverance and effort contribute significantly to various dimensions of adolescents’ participation. Occupational therapy practitioners may find growth mindset theory capable of enriching interventions aimed at promoting adolescents’ optimal participation.