Implications of Mothers' Ability Mindsets for Their Involvement in Children's Learning: An Experimental Investigation

Abstract

This research examined the role of mothers' incremental versus entity ability mindsets in the quality of their involvement in children's learning. Mothers (N = 81) of early elementary school children (mean age = 7.65 years) were given either an incremental or entity mindset. Mothers' unconstructive (i.e., performance-oriented teaching, control, and negative affect) and constructive (i.e., mastery-oriented teaching, autonomy support, and positive affect) involvement was then coded as they worked on a set of challenging tasks with children for 15 minutes. Mothers induced to have an incremental (versus entity) mindset engaged in less unconstructive, but not necessarily more constructive, involvement with children. Mothers with an incremental mindset were also less likely to respond to children's helplessness unconstructively than were mothers with an entity mindset. Mothers' unconstructive involvement predicted children's dampened mastery following experimentally induced failure. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone [phone]. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]