Stress and Coping with a Professional Challenge in Entering Masters of Social Work Students: The Role of Self‐Compassion

Abstract

The study examined the role of religiosity, spirituality, and self‐compassion in responding to a professional stressor among first year masters of social work students. A total of 66 entering students from two masters of social work programs in the western United States participated in a paper‐pencil survey. While religiosity and spirituality did not influence the stress and coping process, self‐compassion did. In particular, multivariate analyses showed that overidentification, a negative component of self‐compassion, was associated with increased stress, while common humanity, a positive component of self‐compassion, was associated with effective coping. Implications of study findings for social work education are discussed.

Keywords:

• self‐compassion
• religiosity
• spirituality
• stress
• coping
• social work students