Parents’ implicit theories of intelligence and children’s responses to academic challenge

The present study is the first to examine parents’ implicit theories of intelligence or ‘growth mindsets’ in relation to responses to challenge and achievement growth for young children, and for those facing economic hardship. Participants were 351 children ages 3 to 5 years who attended a Head Start preschool. Standard interviews measured parents’ implicit theories and family demographics at the start of the preschool year, and a behavioural protocol measured children’s responses to challenge. A standardized assessment measured children’s receptive vocabulary at start- and end-of-year timepoints to capture achievement growth in language. Structural equation modelling (SEM) revealed that parents’ implicit theories of intelligence or ‘growth mindsets’ related directly to children’s positive responses to challenge (carrying an indirect effect of parents’ formal education) and related indirectly to end-of-year vocabulary via responses to challenge. Implications concern promoting positive academic trajectories for children who face opportunity gaps related to poverty and systemic racism.