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Exploring the impact of growth mindset and grit on college students' athletic performance
Yijing Chen1, Ziwei Wu1, Yin Zhou1
1College of Sports and Health, Huaihua University, Huaihua, China.
Abstract:
Psychological factors (e.g., mindset and grit) are increasingly recognized as pivotal to endurance performance, yet their joint influence on endurance task in physical education remains under-explored, especially among Chinese university students. This study tested whether growth mindset and grit predict 800-meter run performance among Chinese university students and whether grit mediates the mindset-performance link. Two hundred fifty-four undergraduates (134 men, 120 women; M = 19.26, SD = 0.73) completed domain-specific scales for growth mindset and grit (perseverance of effort and consistency of interest), followed by an 800-meter run. Structural equation modelling showed that growth mindset had no direct effect on finish time; instead, its influence was channeled through perseverance of effort (β = 0.23, 95% CI [0.07, 0.38]). Consistency of interest was unrelated to performance. The findings provided the culture-specific, behavioral evidence that belief in improvable ability can lead to sustained effort, which in turn influence athletic performance in a single-occasion endurance task. Pedagogical suggestions were proposed based on the findings.
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