Rocking math at school with hypnosis: Effective reduction of math test anxiety with an audio hypnosis intervention in a school setting

Math as a school subject causes anxiety in many students. Previous results show that male and female students do not differ in their math performance. However, female students are more affected by math anxiety than male students, so that they might hesitate pursuing STEM careers. Actively
addressing math anxiety requires an intervention that reduces anxiety, changes attitude, and provides positive experiences. Hypnosis interventions are particularly suitable for this. Therefore, we developed a 30-minutes audio-hypnosis intervention and tested its effectiveness in this study. We randomly assigned students into an intervention group (N = 29) and a control group (N = 38). All students performed two real math tests at school. The intervention group listened at least once to the hypnosis audio intervention between both math tests. Immediately before each math test, we assessed state-math anxiety (measured with STAI-S). To investigate performance differences, we
analyzed students’ math performance scores in both math tests. Our results show that the hypnosis intervention led to a significant reduction in state-math anxiety, t(28) = 2.42, p = .022, Cohen`s dz = 0.45. Math performance did not differ significantly between math tests in the intervention group. Female students generally had higher trait math anxiety (as measured by SIMA scale) and showed a greater reduction in state math anxiety due to the hypnosis intervention, t(18) = 2.86, p = .010, Cohen`s dz = 0.66, compared to male students. It is possible that reduced state math anxiety could result in improved math performance in the long run. Overall, we conclude that our hypnosis intervention reduces math anxiety, especially in female students. Therefore, it is a promising method to promote especially females at an early point in their career and encourage them to choose STEM pathways. The final goal would be to establish hypnosis-based interventions at school encouraging students to activate their resources and develop their potential in all fields.