Different Roles of Help‐Seeking and Parent–Child Closeness in the Link Between Growth Mindset and Persistence: A Two‐Wave Longitudinal Study

The positive effects of growth mindset on a variety of developmental outcomes have been widely acknowledged. However, the mechanisms through which a growth mindset is associated with persistence over time are not explicitly addressed. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the mediating role of the help-seeking strategy in the longitudinal relationship between growth mindset and persistence as well as the moderating role of parent-child closeness in this mediation model. A total of 700 adolescents (Mage = 13.82 years, SD = 0.67) were recruited from one public middle school in China and were measured at two time points. The results indicated that the help-seeking strategy mediated the relationship between a growth mindset and subsequent persistence after controlling for prior persistence. Moreover, the positive correlation between growth mindset and later persistence through help-seeking was greater at higher levels of parent-child closeness. The findings revealed that the help-seeking strategy is an important mediating mechanism through which growth mindset promotes adolescents' persistence and that close relationships between parents and adolescents can enhance the mediating effect.