Growth mindset of socioeconomic status boosts subjective well-being: A longitudinal study

The effects of socioeconomic disparities on subjective well-being are well recognized, but not all individuals suffer damage to their well-being when experiencing socioeconomic adversity. In this article, we propose the hypothesis of mindset of socioeconomic status (SES), which predicts that individuals with a growth mindset of SES will be less likely to have their well-being negatively affected by socioeconomic adversity. We aimed to (1) investigate longitudinally whether mindset of SES is associated with individual subjective well-being; and (2) examine the moderating effects of subjective SES and objective SES on this association. The data were taken from the Chinese Family Panel Studies datasets of 2010 and 2014, with the selected sample comprising individuals between 18 and 65 years old. The results showed that a growth mindset of SES was associated with a higher level of subjective well-being after four years. Moreover, objective SES and subjective SES were significant moderators in this relationship. Our findings suggest that individual mindset of SES plays an important role in explaining individual subjective well-being.