Peer Mindset Cultures, Belonging, and Educational Inequality

• In Event: How to Create Environments of Belonging for Students: New Perspectives on School Belonging Research

Abstract

Recent advances in the Mindset x Context perspective propel the mindset into a contextual construct by examining teachers and classroom mindset cultures. However, a critical theoretical framework is missing to comprehend the roles of peer mindset culture, making it challenging to understand why and how the peer mindset culture influences adolescents' sense of belonging. In this presentation, we first demonstrate the critical need to consider peers to understand the influences of mindset on adolescents' sense of belonging in school settings. We then provide a theoretical framework to understand how and why a fixed mindset peer climate can dampen youth's sense of belonging and belonging certainty: (a) identity threat (e.g., stereotype threat, cultural mismatch), (b) impaired relationships (e.g., low social support, selection), and (c) social contagion. Lastly, we propose optimal strategies for designing interventions targeting the classroom's collective belief system, such as peer mindset cultures, by tapping into adolescents' desire to be autonomous and to belong. Together, this review provides a framework for understanding the collective belief system that critically influences the sense of belonging of students, especially those who are minoritized, marginalized, and underrepresented in school settings, and ultimately offers direction for future empirical research on the culture of collective growth.

Authors

• Eunjin Seo, Texas State University

• Margarett Clapper, University of Texas at Austin

• Cameron Hecht, University of Rochester

• Robert L. Crosnoe, University of Texas at Austin

• David Yeager, University of Texas at Austin