THE MEDIATING EFFECT OF MINDFULNESS SKILLS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTAL EXPECTATIONS AND ENGAGEMENT IN MATHEMATICS AMONG GRADE 11 STUDENTS

The study aimed to establish the mediating role of mindfulness skills in the relationship between parental expectations and students’ mathematics engagement. It employed descriptive-correlational research design and utilized stratified random sampling techniques to recruit 328 Grade 11 secondary students within five selected secondary public high schools in the New Corella District, under the Department of Education (DepEd), Davao del Norte Division as the respondents. The study used three adapted questionnaires to gather the data, namely the Parental Expectations Perception Inventory (PPEI) developed by Sasikala and Karunanidhi (2011), the Kentucky Inventory on Mindfulness Skills (KIMS) developed by Baer et al. (2004), and the Student Engagement in the Mathematics Classroom Scale (SEMCS) developed by Kong et al. (2003). The data was analyzed using the Mean, standard deviation, Pearson r, regression analysis, and Sobel test. The findings suggested that the overall mean of parental expectations in terms of personal expectations, academic expectations, career expectations, and parental ambition is highly extensive. Student engagement in mathematics in terms of cognitive engagement, affective engagement, and behavioral engagement are observed. Moreover, mindfulness skills in terms of observing, describing, acting with awareness, and accepting without judgement are evident. Further, the test of correlations revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between parental expectations and student engagement in mathematics, mindfulness skills and student engagement, and parental expectations and mindfulness skills of the student. Lastly, the mediation analysis revealed a significant partial mediation of mindfulness skills on the relationship between parental expectations and student engagement. With these, educational leaders and school administrators are encouraged to adopt and implement mindfulness-based programs in the curriculum to help students manage academic pressure from parental expectations. Keywords: Mathematics Education, Parental Expectations, Mindfulness Skills, Student Engagement In Mathematics, Mediation Analysis, Philippines