The Missing Link: Academic Motivation as a Mediator in the Relationship between Mindfulness and Critical Thinking Skills in Indonesian First-year Undergraduates

Critical thinking is essential for university students to deal with academic demands. Preliminary research indicates that first-year undergraduate students in Indonesia have low critical thinking skills, highlighting the importance of developing these skills early to better adapt to university life.

This research examined the role of academic motivation as a mediator between mindfulness and critical thinking skills among first-year undergraduate students in Indonesia.

Data were collected through e-flyers and questionnaires distributed via social media, using convenience and snowball sampling techniques. The sample included 186 first-year students (aged 18–23, M = 18.9) from the class of 2022. Critical thinking was assessed with the Analog Test, mindfulness was measured using the 15-item Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-15), and academic motivation was evaluated with the Indonesian Short Version of the Academic Motivation Scale. Pearson correlation and regression analyses were performed.

The study found a statistically significant indirect effect of mindfulness on critical thinking, mediated by intrinsic academic motivation (β = 0.010, p = 0.027, 95% CI = 0.00065–0.023). While this mediation effect was significant, the effect size was small, suggesting that while mindfulness influenced critical thinking through intrinsic motivation, its practical significance was limited.

This study highlights that mindfulness predicts critical thinking primarily through intrinsic academic motivation, with no significant direct effect. The small effect size suggests that other factors may also influence this relationship. Further research is needed to identify additional mediators or contextual variables.