An IRT Analysis of the Growth Mindset Scale

Growth mindset has gained popularity in the fields of psychology and education, yet there is surprisingly little research on the psychometric properties of the Growth Mindset Scale. This research presents an item response theory analysis of the Growth Mindset Scale when used among college students in the United States. Growth Mindset is the belief that success comes through hard work and effort rather than fixed intelligence. Having a growth mindset is believed to be important for academic success among historically marginalized groups; therefore it is important to know if the Growth Mindset Scale functions well among first generation college students. The sample consists of 1260 individuals who completed the Growth Mindset Scale on one of 5 surveys. The Growth Mindset Scale consists of 8 items, with responses ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). IRT analysis is used to assess item fit, scale dimensionality, local dependence, and differential item functioning (DIF). Due to local dependence within the 8-item scale, the final IRT model fit 4 items to a unidimensional model. The 4-item scale did not exhibit any local dependence or DIF among known groups within the sample. The 4-item scale also had high marginal reliability (0.90) and high total information. Cronbach’s alpha for the 4-item scale was α = 0.89. Discussion of the local dependence issues within the 8-item scale is provided.