naser behroozy

This research determination the effect of coloring mandalas on working memory, and test anxiety in grade 12 female high school students in Ahvaz City, Iran.

This was an experimental study with Semi-experimental type of unequal control group, and one month follow-up. The statistical population included all grade 12 female high school students in Ahvaz. The study sample was selected using cluster sampling based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. For this purpose, one education district was selected first and all grade 12 students in this school took the GHQ-28 screening test. Thirty of those scoring above the cut-off point were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups (15 students in each group). Both groups were evaluated in the pretest, posttest, and follow-up stages using the Wechsler Memory Scale, which includes the digit span test (Wechsler, 2009), and Friedman Test Anxiety Scale (Friedman, 1997). The experimental group attended eleven 45-minute sessions of coloring mandalas, but the control group received no intervention program. The data were analyzed using repeated measures MANOVA in SPSS23.

The results indicated that coloring mandalas was effective in increase memory in and reducing test anxiety in students in the posttest stage, and its effects remained stable in the follow-up stage (P<0.05).

Based on the findings of the research, coloring mandalas can be used to increase memory and reduce test anxiety in female high school students, and it can also be employed by counselors and psychologists.

The purpose of this study was testing and comparing a model of causal relationships of family communication patterns (conversation and conformity), metacognition and critical thinking disposition, mediated by epistemic beliefs of male and female students in various high school grades in Ahvaz. The sample consisted of 808 high school students from Ahvaz who were selected by multi-stage random sampling method. The five questionnaires that have been used for collecting data were two subscales of Revised Version of Family Communication Patterns (RFCP), Metacognition Awareness Inventory, (MAI), Epistememic Beliefs Inventory (EBI) and Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CTD). Fitness indices of the proposed model were examined through structural equation modeling (SEM) method, using SPSS-21 and AMOS-21 softwares. The relationships of conversation, metacognition, and epistemic beliefs with critical thinking disposition were positive and significant, but the relationship of conformity with critical thinking disposition was significant and negative. The model fit indices showed that the model fitted the data. The indirect paths were also tested using the bootstrap procedure of Preacher and Hayes macro program for mediation. The results indicated that all of the indirect hypotheses have been confirmed. Also, the multi-group analysis method was used to compare the models of various high school grade levels (3rd grade of the first part of high school and 3rd grade of the second part of high school). Comparing The results of both groups showed that in the two high school grade levels three paths were significantly different.