Left‐behind cumulative risk and academic adjustment in Chinese middle school students: The moderating effect of growth mindset

Left-behind children, as a large-scale disadvantaged group, encounter an array of risk factors that impede their academic development because of parental migration. The current study aimed at investigating the roles of left-behind cumulative risk and growth mindset on academic adjustment and exploring whether growth mindset moderated the association between left-behind cumulative risk and academic adjustment in left-behind middle school students. A total of 1184 left-behind middle school students (615 males; 12-16 years) participated in the study. Results indicated that left-behind cumulative risk is negatively associated with academic adjustment in middle school students (β = -.199, t(1183) = -7.229, p < .001). Besides, growth mindset has a protective effect on left-behind middle school students' academic adjustment (β = .386, t(1183) = 14.070, p < .001) and a moderating effect on the relationship between left-behind cumulative risk and academic adjustment (β = .394, t(1182) = 4.057, p < .001, ΔR² = .012). These findings suggest that family risk factors related to left-behind status affect the academic adjustment of left-behind middle school students in a superposition way, while the positive individual factor of growth mindset could protect the negative impact caused by parental migration.