Mindset and perseverance of adolescents with intellectual disabilities: Associations with empowerment, mental health problems, and self-esteem

Background: Mindset refers to the implicit assumptions about the malleability of attributes such as intelligence, behavior, and personality. Previous research has shown that people endorsing a growth mindset show better academic and mental health outcomes than those with a fixed mindset. However, little is known about the mindset of youth with intellectual disabilities (ID) and its association with mental health.Methods: Adolescents with (n = 247) and without (n = 96) mild to borderline ID completed questionnaires about mindset and perseverance, empowerment, mental health problems, and self-esteem. Results: Adolescents with ID endorse a more fixed mindset of emotion and behavior than adolescents without ID. No significant differences were found for mindset of intelligence and perseverance. In addition, within the group of youth with ID some differences in mindset and perseverance were found based on level of intellectual disability, gender, and comorbidities, but not for age. Finally, a growth mindset of emotion and behavior and perseverance, but not mindset of intelligence, were negatively related to mental health problems in youth with ID. Conclusion and implications: Overall, findings indicate that teaching youth with ID a growth mindset of emotion and behavior and perseverance may be a potentially successful endeavour to improve mental health in adolescents with ID.