Adolescents who believe people can change cope better with the challenges of attending high school, a new study finds.
In contrast, those who believed that people’s personalities are fixed and unchangeable fared worse, suffering higher levels of stress and poorer physical health.
The study’s authors were inspired by the idea that the high school years are a defining period in life:
“Iconic films such as The Breakfast Club or Back to the Future depict teens as indelibly marked as “losers,” “jocks,” or “bullies”—labels that are thought to haunt them or buoy them throughout high school and into adulthood.” (Yeager et al., 2014)
