Do students’ mindsets about emotional intelligence change over secondary school? Developmental paths in adolescence

Abstract Research on mindsets has grown exponentially over the last few years, but the developmental trajectories of the different types of mindsets are less explored, especially among youth. Thus, the present study analyzed and compared the trajectory of both growth and fixed implicit theories of emotional intelligence over the secondary school cycle. In total, 523 students were followed during the complete Portuguese 3-year secondary school cycle, through a three-wave design from the 10th to the 12th grade. In the first wave, the participants were aged between 14 and 18 years (mean [ M ] = 15.4; standard deviation [ SD ] = 0.63) and were mainly female (58.6%). The results indicated that the emotional intelligence (EI) growth mindset increased over secondary school, whereas students’ fixed mindset tended to decrease in the same period. A students previous trait EI levels predicted the EI mindset change patterns, while a students gender did not. Moreover, in this study, the different mindset trajectories predicted students emotions toward school at the end of secondary school but not their EI trait levels. The results of this study provide information about the dynamics of emotion-related mindsets in late adolescence and will be discussed on the basis of their implications for the educational context.