Effects of Systematic Desensitization on Mathematics anxiety among Junior Secondary School Students
The issue of mathematics anxiety among some secondary school students has been a source of worry among the stakeholders in education. In this study therefore, the researchers examined the effects of systematic desensitization on mathematics anxiety of junior secondary school students in Awka South local government of Anambra state. A quasi experimental design which adopted a pre-test, post-test and control group method is used in this study. The population of the study comprise of 576 secondary school students who are mathematics anxious. The sample size for the study is 83 students, 45 for the experimental group while 38 is for the control group. These students are sampled through purposive sampling technique. The study used Abbreviated Mathematics Anxiety Scale (AMAS) instrument developed by Hopko, Mahadevan, Bare and Hunt which was adapted and revalidated in Nigeria by Adebule for data collection. The data collected was analysed using using the arithmetic mean and standard deviation. The findings of the study discovered that systematic desensitization techniques have positive effects on the mathematics anxiety of the students and that there is no signicance different between the male and female students used in the study with regard to mathematics anxiety. It is recommended among other things that counsellors should extend the use of systematic desensitization and self-management techniques on reduction of mathematics anxiety of students.
Keywords: Effects, systematic desensitization, techniques, mathematics and anxiety.
