Intelligence Mindsets Trajectory Profiles among Chinese Elementary School Students: Associations with Changes in Academic Achievement from Grades 4 to 6

Early adolescence is a critical period for the development of children’s intelligence mindsets, which play a significant role in academic achievement. However, existing research predominantly employs variable-centered approaches, which fail to capture individual differences in mindset–achievement relations. This research addresses this gap by adopting a longitudinal person-centered approach to explore the joint developmental trajectories of growth and fixed mindsets among early adolescents. It further explores how these trajectories relate to changes in academic achievement (i.e., the mean of standardized mathematics and Chinese achievement test scores) over 2 years, accounting for intelligence and sociodemographic factors such as age, sex, and family SES. In two five-wave longitudinal studies with 748 (M_age = 10.23 years, SD = 0.30; 49% girls at T1) and 3258 (M_age = 10.34 years, SD = 0.37; 49% girls at T1) Chinese elementary school students from grades 4 to 6, four distinct mindset trajectory profiles were identified: Growth (initially high growth but low fixed mindsets), Fixed (initially high fixed but low growth mindsets), Moderate (initially moderate levels in both mindsets), and Both-High (initially high levels in both mindsets). Analysis across both studies revealed that students in the Growth trajectory profile exhibited the most significant improvements in academic achievement 2 years later. Conversely, students in the Both-High trajectory profile experienced the least favorable academic outcomes. These findings highlight the importance of recognizing individual differences in mindset trajectories and their potential impact on academic outcomes. The current research underscores the need for educational interventions that are tailored to different mindset profiles to optimize student development and achievement.