EXAMINING PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING AS A MEDIATOR BETWEEN GROWTH MINDSET AND ACADEMIC SELF-EFFICACY IN FIRST-YEAR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS OF KOHAT UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (KUST)

Abstract

The present study examined whether psychological wellbeing mediates the relationship between growth mindset and academic self-efficacy among first-year university students at Kohat University of Science and Technology (KUST), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Using a quantitative cross-sectional correlational design, data were collected from 228 first-year undergraduates (53.5% male, 46.5% female; age range 18–25 years) through three validated self-report instruments: Dweck's (1999) Implicit Theories of Intelligence Scale (α = .652), the Hascher and Hagenauer (2022) Academic Wellbeing Scale (α = .716), and Bandura's (1997) Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (α = .785). Descriptive statistics, Pearson product–moment correlations, and Baron and Kenny's (1986) regression-based mediation procedure were performed using IBM SPSS Version 27. Results revealed a significant positive association between growth mindset and psychological wellbeing (r = .195, p < .01). A significant negative association was observed between psychological wellbeing and academic self-efficacy (r = −.131, p < .05), while the direct association between growth mindset and academic self-efficacy was not statistically significant (r = .074, p > .05). Mediation analysis confirmed that growth mindset significantly predicted psychological wellbeing (β = .195, p = .003) but did not significantly predict academic self-efficacy (β = .074, p = .265), precluding establishment of the proposed mediation. Gender differences were observed only in growth mindset, with female students scoring significantly higher than male students (p = .013, Cohen's d = 0.33). These findings suggest that growth mindset contributes to psychological wellbeing in Pakistani university students but does not directly enhance academic self-efficacy. Theoretical implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.