Integrating Self Compassion into Mindfulness Meditation Lowers Math Anxiety in Indonesian Junior High School Students

A brief mindfulness meditation program, especially when combined with self-compassion practices, substantially reduced mathematics learning anxiety in seventh-grade students. In a quasi-experimental study with 112 Indonesian students, those who received four 5–10-minute mindfulness sessions before math lessons over two weeks showed a significant drop in anxiety scores. Students who received mindfulness integrated with self-compassion showed an even larger reduction, with all 37 participants experiencing decreased anxiety. The mindfulness-only group's average anxiety score fell from 95.55 to 81.68, while the mindfulness-plus-self-compassion group's average fell from 92.00 to 66.68. A control group receiving conventional instruction showed no such improvement. The authors argue that adding self-compassion enhances the effectiveness of brief mindfulness interventions for subject-specific anxiety in early adolescents.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Mathematics learning anxiety is a prevalent affective barrier adversely affecting academic performance, motivation, and psychological well-being among junior high school students. Yet, evidence-based interventions integrating mindfulness and self-compassion remain underexplored in this population. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of a mindfulness meditation program and a mindfulness meditation program integrated with self-compassion values in reducing mathematics learning anxiety, as well as to compare the anxiety levels across three groups. A quantitative approach with a quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group design was employed. Participants were 112 seventh-grade students from SMP Negeri 1 Plered, Indonesia, assigned into three groups: Experiment Group 1 (mindfulness only, n = 38), Experiment Group 2 (mindfulness integrated with self-compassion, n = 37), and a control group (conventional learning, n = 37). The intervention consisted of four 5–10-minute sessions conducted before mathematics lessons over two weeks. Results revealed that Experiment Group 1 showed a significant reduction in anxiety scores from 95.55 to 81.68 (t = 6.005, p < 0.001), whereas Experiment Group 2 demonstrated a substantially larger reduction from 92.00 to 66.68, with all 37 students (100%) exhibiting decreased anxiety (t = 12.990, p < 0.001). A Kruskal-Wallis test confirmed significant differences in post-intervention anxiety levels across the three groups (χ² = 51.412, *p* < 0.001). These findings provide empirical evidence for the superiority of self-compassion-enhanced mindfulness interventions over mindfulness alone in alleviating mathematics anxiety among early adolescents. The results offer practical implications for integrating brief, scalable affective strategies into the Indonesian Merdeka Curriculum to support students' social-emotional learning and reduce subject-specific anxiety. Abstrak: Kecemasan belajar matematika merupakan hambatan afektif yang umum terjadi dan berdampak negatif terhadap prestasi akademik, motivasi, serta kesejahteraan psikologis siswa sekolah menengah pertama. Namun, intervensi berbasis bukti yang mengintegrasikan meditasi kesadaran (mindfulness) dan welas asih diri (self-compassion) masih jarang diteliti pada populasi ini. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguji efektivitas program meditasi mindfulness dan program meditasi mindfulness yang terintegrasi dengan nilai-nilai self-compassion dalam menurunkan kecemasan belajar matematika, serta membandingkan tingkat kecemasan di antara ketiga kelompok. Pendekatan kuantitatif dengan desain kuasi-eksperimen nonequivalent control group digunakan. Partisipan penelitian adalah 112 siswa kelas VII SMP Negeri 1 Plered, Indonesia, yang dibagi ke dalam tiga kelompok: Kelompok Eksperimen 1 (hanya mindfulness, n = 38), Kelompok Eksperimen 2 (mindfulness terintegrasi self-compassion, n = 37), dan Kelompok Kontrol (pembelajaran konvensional, n = 37). Intervensi dilaksanakan dalam empat sesi selama dua pekan, masing-masing sesi berlangsung 5–10 menit sebelum pelajaran matematika dimulai. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa Kelompok Eksperimen 1 mengalami penurunan signifikan skor kecemasan dari 95,55 menjadi 81,68 (t = 6,005; p < 0,001), sedangkan Kelompok Eksperimen 2 menunjukkan penurunan yang jauh lebih besar dari 92,00 menjadi 66,68, dengan seluruh 37 siswa (100%) mengalami penurunan kecemasan (t = 12,990; p < 0,001). Uji Kruskal-Wallis mengonfirmasi adanya perbedaan signifikan tingkat kecemasan pascaintervensi di antara ketiga kelompok (χ² = 51,412; p < 0,001). Temuan ini memberikan bukti empiris bahwa intervensi mindfulness yang diperkuat dengan self-compassion lebih unggul dibandingkan mindfulness saja dalam meredakan kecemasan matematika pada remaja awal. Hasil penelitian ini juga menawarkan implikasi praktis bagi pengintegrasian strategi afektif yang singkat dan mudah diskalakan ke dalam Kurikulum Merdeka Indonesia guna mendukung pembelajaran sosial-emosional siswa serta mengurangi kecemasan spesifik terhadap mata pelajaran.