The role of self-compassion and perceived social support in the relationship between five-factor personality traits and general psychological symptomatology

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the mediating role of self-compassion and perceived social support in the relationship between psychological symptomatology and the five-factor personality traits of extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Method: A total of 425 university students were enrolled in the study. Data were collected using a demographic information form, Turkish Adjective-Based Personality Test, the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), the Self-Compassion Scale and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. The data recorded were analyzed using correlation and multiple mediation model test (bootstrap) analysis. Results: The relationship between variables was statistically significant. Analysis conducted to explore the mediating role of self-compassion and perceived social support revealed that self-compassion and perceived social support were mediators in the relationship between neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and psychological symptomatology. There was no statistically significant relationship between openness to experience and the BSI (r=-0.05, p>05). Conclusion: The findings of this study regarding the relationships between the variables were mostly consistent with the results of other studies in the literature. The mediating role of self-compassion and perceived social support in the relationship between personality and psychological symptoms is important to understanding the relationship between personality and psychopathology. The findings also provide additional perspective to the question of how psychotherapy leads to change.