Investigating the mediating role of mindfulness in the relationship between autonomy supportive environmental and critical thinking in students

Critical thinking has been one of the most important concepts in recent years; But the identification of predictor variables in the form of a structural model and in the educational environment has not been studied.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of mindfulness as a mediator in the relationship between autonomy supportive environment and critical thinking.

The research method is correlation and modeling of structural equations. The population of this study included all high school students in Shiraz city in the academic year 2019-2020. 525 students (301 girls and 224 boys) were selected by multi-stage cluster random sampling. Participants answered three questionnaires: autonomy supportive environmental scale (Assor and et al, 2002, Assor, 2012), Freiburg mindfulness questionnair (short form, Walach and et al, 2006), and California critical thinking test (Facione, 2013). Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and AMOS software and fitness indicators.

The results showed that the proposed model has a good fit with data. Direct path coefficients indicated that the autonomy supportive environment was a significant predictor of mindfulness (P <0.001, β = 0.18) and critical thinking (P <0.001, β = 0.18). Mindfulness was also a significant predictor of critical thinking (P <0.001, β = 0.28). In addition, the results indicated that mindfulness was able to play a mediating role in the relationship between autonomy supportive environment and critical thinking.

Environmental characteristics such as autonomy supportive environmental along with interpersonal factors such as mindfulness play an important role in students' critical thinking and it is necessary to pay attention to them in educational planning.