ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Psychology in Education
Exploring Gender Differences in Norwegian Eighth-Grade Students: The Role of Passion, Grit, Growth Mindset, Self-Efficacy, Compassion, Courage and Well-Being
Provisionally accepted
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
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The purpose of this study was to survey how middle school students perceive their passion, grit, growth mindset, self-efficacy, compassion, courage, school safety, school well-being and flourishing. Gender differences were explored in both baseline levels and correlations of these constructs. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 7260 Norwegian 12–14-year-old adolescents. 3539 boys and 3721 girls were analyzed with t-tests and correlation analyses to explore gender-specific patterns. Results showed gender differences in factors for psychological resilience, with boys reporting significantly higher levels of passion, grit, growth mindset, self-efficacy, self-compassion, courage, school well-being, and school safety. Girls scored significantly higher on compassion for others and reported receiving more compassion from others. No significant difference was found in levels of flourishing. Although boys scored higher on all motivational factors included in this study, girls showed stronger associations between self-efficacy, grit, and growth mindset which suggests a more cohesive motivation profile. In girls, school well-being showed stronger associations with perceived safety as well as both received and self-directed compassion compared to boys. For boys, compassion toward others showed a stronger correlation with both self-compassion and the compassion they received from others. These patterns suggest that girls may particularly benefit from increased self-efficacy and self-directed compassion, while boys may gain from developing more compassion toward others. Future research is needed to explore how these patterns evolve over time.
Keywords: gender differences, Well-being, psychological resilience, compassion, school safety, Motivational factors, courage
Received: 11 Sep 2025; Accepted: 18 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Litlabø, Haga, Richter and Sigmundsson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Vegard Renolen Litlabø
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