Self-Compassion as a Relationship Moderator between Academic Burnout and Mental Health in Students

Abstract

Background and purpose: College life is a challenging factor which affects the mental health and academic performance of students. Self compassion includes openness to and awareness of our sufferings, kindness to oneself and a non-judgmental view to our failures. The present study was conducted to investigate the moderator effects of self-compassion in the relationship between academic burnout and mental health in the students of Payam-e-Noor University of Delfan in the academic year of 2013-2014 (1392-1393). Materials and methods: the research sample included 200 students from Payam-e-Noor University of Delfan in the academic year of 2013-2014 (1392-1393), who were selected through cluster and simple random sampling. The instruments included the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Self Compassion Scale (SCS), and the academic burnout questionnaire (MBI-SS). The dada were analyzed using SPSS18 through Pearson correlation, and Hierarchical Moderated Regression. Findings: Findings showed that there is a negative relationship between academic burnout and self-compassion on one hand (P<0.01), and academic burnout and mental health on the other (P<0.05). Findings also showed that there is a positive relationship between self-compassion and mental health (P<0.01). In addition, self-compassion can be a moderator between academic burnout and mental health, and can moderate the effects of academic burnout on mental health (P<0.01). Conclusion: Results emphasize the importance of self-compassion as a variable in self acceptance. In other words, self-compassion is a way to connect to ourselves despite failures, incompetence and flaws.