The Effectiveness of Forgiveness Therapy in Reducing Academic Procrastination Among Junior High School Students: A Gender Perspective

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of forgiveness therapy in reducing academic procrastination among junior high school (JHS) students, as well as to investigate gender-based differences in the effectiveness of the therapy. The research used a quasi-experimental design with a pretest-posttest approach on two groups, male and female students. The forgiveness therapy intervention was conducted over three sessions, with a maximum duration of 120 minutes per session. The results of the analysis showed that forgiveness therapy significantly reduced academic procrastination for both male (t = 4.344; p = 0.012) and female students (t = 9.487; p = 0.001). The average procrastination scores for male students decreased from 61.20 to 51.20, while for female students, it decreased from 58.40 to 55.40. Furthermore, a significant difference was found between the two groups in the level of procrastination reduction (t = 3.012; p = 0.038), with a larger impact on male students. These findings indicate that forgiveness therapy is an effective psychological intervention for reducing academic procrastination, with its effectiveness varying based on gender.