Growth and fixed mindsets and later exhaustion-cynicism in adolescents: Prospective associations involving goal...

Exhaustion and cynicism are central symptoms of academic burnout. This study examined prospective associations between adolescents' growth and fixed mindsets and later exhaustion-cynicism symptoms, including indirect associations involving goal clarity/commitment and self-regulated learning (SRL). Three waves of the Seoul Education Longitudinal Study (SELS) were analyzed using a baseline-adjusted structural equation model involving 1999 Grade 10 students. Wave 1 mindsets were modeled as predictors, Wave 2 goal clarity/commitment and SRL as parallel motivational-regulatory variables, and Wave 3 exhaustion-cynicism symptoms as the outcome. Prior levels of the intermediate variables and the outcome, the SELS-recorded girls/boys classification, academic achievement, and school-level clustering were taken into account. Growth mindset was prospectively associated with higher goal clarity/commitment but did not show a unique association with later SRL. Fixed mindset was prospectively associated with lower SRL. Both goal clarity/commitment and SRL were associated with lower subsequent exhaustion-cynicism symptoms. Growth mindset showed a negative prospective indirect association with exhaustion-cynicism involving higher goal clarity/commitment, whereas the corresponding association involving SRL was not supported. Fixed mindset showed a positive prospective indirect association involving lower SRL. Neither mindset showed a statistically significant residual direct association with later exhaustion-cynicism. These findings identify modest, baseline-adjusted prospective associations involving distinct motivational-regulatory resources rather than causal mediation or a serial process.