# Exploring the impact of growth mindset and grit on college students’ athletic performance

## TL;DR

This study explores how growth mindset and grit affect 800-meter run performance among Chinese university students, finding that sustained effort, not mindset directly, influences performance.

## Contribution

The study provides culture-specific evidence that growth mindset influences athletic performance through perseverance of effort in a single-occasion endurance task.

## Key findings

- Growth mindset did not directly affect 800-meter run performance.
- Perseverance of effort mediated the relationship between growth mindset and performance.
- Consistency of interest had no significant impact on athletic performance.

## 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.