The Growth Mindset and Student Social and Emotional Skill Development: An Empirical Analysis Based on the OECD’s SSES

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Bulrr

This study evaluates adolescents’ growth mindset and examines how it relates to social and emotional skills using OECD SSES 2019 data from Suzhou. It draws evidence from students, parents, and teachers and tests whether growth mindset predicts students’ social and emotional skills. Results indicate students’ growth mindset is associated with socioeconomic status and that growth mindset from students, parents, and teachers significantly and positively predicts students’ social and emotional skills.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Methodologies

Sample Selection

Measurement Tools

Analysis Methods

Findings

The Overall Status of Students’ Growth Mindset

Differences in the Growth Mindset among Various Student Groups

Correlations between the Growth Mindset and Student Social and Emotional Skills

The Growth Mindset and Student Social and Emotional Skill Development: An Empirical Analysis Based on the OECD’s SSES Zhongjing Huang, Kaiyue Shang, Jing Zhang East China Normal University, Shanghai 20062, China | Abstract: The mindset is a crucial factor influencing the behavior of individuals. This study aims to evaluate the growth mindset of 10-and 15-year-old adolescents and the relationship between their mindsets and social and emotional skills from the viewpoints of students, parents, and teachers, using OECD’s SSES 2019 data from Suzhou City. The research results show that the growth mindset of students is affected by their socioeconomic status; and that the growth mindset of students, parents, and teachers can significantly and positively predict student social and emotional skills?
Best Evidence in Chinese Education 2023; 14(1):1745-1749.
Doi: [10.15354/bece.23.ar041](10.15354/bece.23.ar041) | | --- | | How to Cite: Huang, Z., Shang, K., & Zhang, J. (2023). The growth mindset and student social and emotional skill development: An empirical analysis based on the OECD’s SSES. Best Evidence in Chinese Education, 14(1):1745-1749. | Keywords: Adolescents, Growth Mindset, Social and Emotional Skill, Regression Analyses About Authors: Kaiyue Shang, Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai 20062, China. Jing Zhang, Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai 20062, China. Correspondence to: Zhongjing Huang, Department of Education, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai 20062, China. E-mail: zjhuang@dedu.ecnu.edu.cn Conflict of Interests: None. © 2023 Insights Publisher. All rights reserved. Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 License ([http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed by the Insights Publisher. Introduction The growth mindset is a crucial mental attitude in promoting student social and emotional skill development. This study utilized China-related data from the OECD’s Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) 2019 to explore developmental levels of the growth mindset among Chinese 10-and 15-year-old students and to examine the relationship between their growth mindset and social and emotional skills as well as the influence of the growth mindset of parents and teachers on student social and emotional skill development, in an effort to provide valuable insights for the improvement of future education. Methodologies Sample Selection Stratified two-stage cluster sampling was employed to obtain data of 10-and 15-yearold Chinese students from primary and secondary schools (excluding schools for children of migrant workers and special education schools) in six districts and four counties of Suzhou City. A total of 7,550 subjects were investigated, with 3,800 students from the 10-year-old group (aged between 10 years and two months and 11 years and one month) and 3,750 students from the 15-year-old group (aged between 15 years and two months and 16 years and one month) . Eventually, 7,268 students completed the procedure of the survey, making up 96.26% of the original participants, and were weighted to represent 150,964 primary and secondary students in Suzhou. Measurement Tools (i) Social and Emotional Skills Based on the Big Five personality traits model, OECD’s SSES developed a 96-item questionnaire, in which student social and emotional skills were categorized into five dimensions: task performance, emotional control, collaboration, openness, and interactions with others. (ii) The Growth Mindset In OECD’s SSES, there were three

FAQs

What data source and age groups are used in the study?

The study uses OECD’s Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) 2019 data from Suzhou and focuses on 10- and 15-year-old students, including information from students, parents, and teachers.

How is students’ growth mindset measured?

Growth mindset is measured with two OECD SSES items related to social and emotional skills: limited ability to change one’s social skills and limited ability to change one’s emotional skills.

What does the study find about the relationship between growth mindset and social and emotional skills?

Growth mindset is positively associated with students’ social and emotional skills, and growth mindset from students, parents, and teachers significantly and positively predicts these skills.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Bulrr