The Relationship Between Self-Compassion and Life Satisfaction: Automatic Thoughts As A Mediator

Abstract

In this study, the mediating effect of automatic thoughts on the relationship between self-compassion and life satisfaction of university students was investigated. The study group consisted of 286 university students (166 females and 120 males). The Self-Compassion Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Automatic Thoughts Scale were used to collect data from subjects. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, and structural equation model analysis were used to analyze the data. The results of the study revealed that while self-compassion is positively correlated with life satisfaction; both self-compassion and automatic thoughts are negatively correlated with automatic thoughts. In the model tested within the current study, each item of the Satisfaction with Life Scale which was used the measure participants’ life satisfaction level is used as an observed variable for the latent variable of “life satisfaction”. The total scores obtained from each sub-scale of the Automatic Thoughts Scale which was used to determine the frequency of automatic thoughts is used as an observed variable for the latent variable of “automatic thoughts”. Due to the unidimensional structure of the Self-Compassion Scale, three parcels were created by parceling method for the latent variable of “self-compassion”. Since the two-step procedure was used in the model, the measurement model was tested before examining the structural relationships. As a result of the analysis, the initial tests showed a satisfactory model fit. After the structural model was tested and it showed a satisfactory model fit. Just after the structural model was tested, the mediating effect was tested. According to the results of chi-square test, discarding the path from self-compassion to life satisfaction caused a deterioration in the model. As a result, the results showed that automatic thoughts had a partial mediator effect between self-compassion and life satisfaction. The findings were discussed based on the literature.

Keywords

• self-compassion
• life satisfaction
• automatic thoughts
• university students