Mindsets, attitudes and learning

5. Growth mindset regulators: Managing anxiety and pressure

Beyond motivational enablers, growth mindset interacts with regulatory skills, such as emotional control and stress resistance, that can help students to manage frustration, cope with pressure and maintain focus under challenging circumstances. Evidence from PISA and other research has repeatedly highlighted the role of these skills (OECD, 2024[3]; OECD, 2023[26]; Durlak et al., 2011[27]; Poulou, 2007[28]). For example, previous analyses have shown that students reporting higher levels of emotional control and stress resistance tend to feel less anxious and more confident in school; but in some contexts they also tend to report lower engagement with effective learning strategies or even reduced motivation to engage with learning tasks (OECD, 2024[3]).

Understanding how these capacities align with growth mindset is important for designing policies and interventions that promote student’s socio-emotional skills.

Mathematics anxiety and growth mindset

Mathematics anxiety is understood as feelings of stress or helplessness when dealing with mathematics tasks. PISA 2022 results suggest that low performers generally have higher levels of mathematics anxiety compared to the rest of students (OECD, 2024[3]).

Across OECD countries, growth mindset is negatively associated with mathematics anxiety; students with a growth mindset tend to report feeling less worried about mathematics (Table B.19). This association is strongest in several top-performing systems, such as Denmark*, Ireland*, Japan, Hong Kong (China)*, Macao (China) and Chinese Taipei. Among mid-performing students, the relationship is also negative on average and in 34 countries/economies. However, among low performers, the relationship holds in only eight countries/economies and is non-significant in most others, while among top performers it is rarely significant. Only in Macao (China) and Hong Kong (China)* does the negative relationship persist across all performance levels.

Cross-country comparisons further highlight variation. As shown in Figure 9, in some systems, such as Macao (China) and Hong Kong (China)*, growth mindset is strongly associated with lower anxiety but weakly or negatively associated with performance. In others, like in Australia* and the United States*, growth mindset relates strongly with performance as with reduced mathematics anxiety. Yet, in countries such as France and Italy, neither of these relationships are significant.

Figure 9. Relationship between growth mindset, performance in mathematics and mathematics anxiety

Score change in mathematics performance and change in the index of mathematics anxiety, when students report a growth mindset

Note: Only countries and economies with available data are shown.

Differences are accounting for students' and schools' socio-economic profile.

The socio-economic profile is measured by the PISA index of economic, social and cultural status (ESCS).

Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Tables B.12 and B.19.

These contrasts suggest that mindset beliefs align differently with academic and emotional outcomes depending on cultural and system-level contexts. For policymakers, this highlights the need for balanced policy approaches that support both achievement and psychological safety.

Emotional control and stress resistance: Managing frustration and pressure

Emotional control and stress resistance are socio-emotional skills that are less about motivation and more about how to regulate one’s goals under pressure. The association between these skills and growth mindset is generally positive, but varying across performance groups. Emotional control is positively related to growth mindset in nearly all countries and economies, especially among low and mid-performers.

However, the pattern differs from that observed for curiosity and persistence. Students who already have strong emotional control show smaller differences in performance between those with and without a growth mindset (about seven score points less) (Figure 10 and Table B.30). In other words, students who can already regulate their emotions may not rely as much on growth mindset beliefs to stay engaged and productive, as they already have strategies to handle stress and frustration effectively. But students with poor control could benefit from a growth mindset.

Stress resistance is also positively related to growth mindset on average, but the associations show more mixed patterns (Table B.21). The relationship is largely non-significant among low performers across countries/economies and it is significant only in eight countries/economies – it is the strongest in Hong Kong (China)*, Korea and Chinese Taipei. While it is also non-significant among mid-performers in a number of systems, it remains positive in most (28). The relationship is largely non-significant among top performers, with the only exceptions of Singapore, Macao (China), Hong Kong (China)* and Chinese Taipei.

Figure 10. Growth mindset and performance in mathematics, by level of socio-emotional skills

Change in mathematics performance when students disagreed or strongly disagreed that "your intelligence is something about you that you can’t change very much", by the quarter of the following indices; OECD average

Notes: differences are accounting for students' and schools' socio-economic profile.

The socio-economic profile is measured by the PISA index of economic, social and cultural status (ESCS).

All differences are statistically significant (see Reader’s Guide).

Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Tables B.29, B.30, B.31 and B.32.

As with emotional control, high levels of stress resistance appear to temper the association between growth mindset and performance, reducing the gap between those who do and do not report having such beliefs. As shown in Figure 10, on average, among students with high stress resistance, the performance gap between those who report having a growth mindset and those who do not is smaller than the gap observed among students with lower levels of these skills (about four score points less) (Table B.32). This points to a more complex interplay – students who are calm and stress-resilient may already manage challenges in ways that reduce the additional benefits of growth mindset, or they may feel less need to adopt compensatory learning strategies.

Fostering emotional control and stress resistance remains important for students’ well-being and for reducing anxiety, even if their link to performance gaps by growth mindset is muted and variable. The most balanced systems are those where both groups of skills are supported, ensuring students not only believe in their capacity to grow but also have the emotional regulation to act on that belief.

Policies that focus only on motivation risk neglecting students’ psychological safety, while policies that focus only on regulation may not spark the effort required to achieve progress. Balanced approaches can ensure that students both believe in their capacity to grow and have the emotional resources to act on that belief. By complementing the analysis of self-beliefs, these findings show that growth mindset is intertwined with broader socio-emotional profiles. They reinforce the importance of balanced strategies that align motivation with regulation, ensuring that students are both willing and able to persist in their learning.