Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology
Predictors for growth mindset and sense of belonging in college students
James M. Murray 1 * , Sloan Komissarov 2, Sara L. Cook 3, Brenda L. Murray 1
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1 Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, United States
2 Western Technical College, United States
3 College of Education, Science, and Mathematics, Viterbo University, United States
* Corresponding Author
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Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, 2022 - Volume 4 Issue 1, pp. 66-85
https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202213791

Article Type: Research Article

Published Online: 30 Jun 2022

Views: 2300 | Downloads: 2008

ABSTRACT
Mindset and sense of belonging are important predictors for college student success. Mindset refers to beliefs on how or whether intelligence can grow with time and effort. Belonging refers to students' sense of being respected and supported in their college environment. We developed and administered a survey targeted to college students to measure several dimensions of mindset, belonging, and educational and demographic background information.  Survey questions measuring mindset and belonging were adapted from common survey questions used in the literature. The survey was sent in Spring 2017 to all the students at two four-year midwest universities including one public and one private university. With an approximate 20% response rate, the results are based on the responses of 2,305 students. We estimated factor analysis models to construct overall measures for each mindset and belonging, then we explored predictors for these including educational and demographic characteristics and frequency of instructor feedback to students. The results show that formative instructor feedback on writing leads to improvements in mindset, belonging, perseverance, and confidence. Frequent feedback on writing is shown even to improve students’ mindset regarding mathematics. The findings also reveal an association between mindset and the education and demographic background variables considered, including the number of semesters students have in college, parents' educational attainment, race, and students' chosen fields of study. The implication for college teaching is that including more writing experiences with formative feedback loops with the instructor can improve students’ mindset, even on subjects beyond the scope of the given assignments or courses. Taken together with a literature that shows growth mindset improves learning and student performance, creating more opportunities for instructor formative feedback on writing can lead to improved learning and student performance across the curriculum.
KEYWORDS
mindset belonging student writing feedback regression
In-text citation: (Murray et al., 2022)
Reference: Murray, J. M., Komissarov, S., Cook, S. L., & Murray, B. L. (2022). Predictors for growth mindset and sense of belonging in college students. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, 4(1), 66-85. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202213791
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Murray JM, Komissarov S, Cook SL, Murray BL. Predictors for growth mindset and sense of belonging in college students. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology. 2022;4(1), 66-85. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202213791
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Murray JM, Komissarov S, Cook SL, Murray BL. Predictors for growth mindset and sense of belonging in college students. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology. 2022;4(1):66-85. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202213791
In-text citation: (Murray et al., 2022)
Reference: Murray, James M., Sloan Komissarov, Sara L. Cook, and Brenda L. Murray. "Predictors for growth mindset and sense of belonging in college students". Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology 2022 4 no. 1 (2022): 66-85. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202213791
In-text citation: (Murray et al., 2022)
Reference: Murray, J. M., Komissarov, S., Cook, S. L., and Murray, B. L. (2022). Predictors for growth mindset and sense of belonging in college students. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, 4(1), pp. 66-85. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202213791
In-text citation: (Murray et al., 2022)
Reference: Murray, James M. et al. "Predictors for growth mindset and sense of belonging in college students". Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, vol. 4, no. 1, 2022, pp. 66-85. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202213791
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