The mediating role of self-compassion in relation between character strengths and flourishing in college students

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the relationship between character strengths and flourishing with the mediating role of self-compassion. The research method was structural equation modelling. The sample consisted of 376 university students between the ages of 20-30 (mean = 24.3) years old selected through cluster random sampling. Fifty-seven percent of the participants were females from the science and research branch at Azad University. The data were collected using the self-compassion scale (SCS) (Neff, 2003a), the values in action inventory of strengths (Peterson and Seligman, 2004) and the human flourishing questionnaire (HFQ) (Soleimani et al., 2015). The data was analysed using path analysis through LISREL software. The character strengths of love, gratitude and hope with the mediating role of self-compassion have an indirect effect on flourishing. According to the results, optimising character strengths (especially emotional strengths) help people to accept themselves without self-judgement and selfcriticism, which in turn improves individual flourishing.