How Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Relate to the Inclination of Seeking Support and to Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Levels

Abstract

Due to the rise of positive psychology, mindfulness and self-compassion have become part of Western culture, and research on these topics is growing at an exponential rate. Mindfulness and self-compassion help an individual recognize, accept, investigate, and determine the cause of suffering. When people are faced with difficult life struggles such as symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression, practitioners of mindfulness and self-compassion often respond with kindness and self-love, recognizing that imperfection is part of human nature (Neff, 2011). With the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic such as adjusting to virtual campuses and increasing isolation, students, in particular, are experiencing more difficulty in coping with this unprecedented global situation. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between mindfulness and self-compassion with the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress of community college students. We predicted that students who were more likely to seek out support from others and/or engage in self-care practices will experience lower levels of stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. The participants were recruited from a local community college and they completed an online survey, which included the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1994), Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (Baer et al. 2012), Self-Compassion Scale (Neff, 2003a), and demographic information. Our findings provide important insight into providing self-care practices such as mindfulness and self-compassion training on college campuses to help students develop and strengthen their emotional awareness, resiliency,and overall well-being.