The Role of Social Support, Being Present, and Self‐kindness in University Student Psychological Distress

Abstract

Objective

Self‐kindness, which is thought to be part of self‐compassion, has the potential to contribute to mental health, as well as serve as a focus for interventions. However, little attention has been given to the potential role of self‐kindness specifically, especially in the context of mindful presence and available social support, in buffering distress.

Method

Structural equation modelling was used to test a theoretically based model of how these factors relate to each other and psychological distress. Participants were 592 Australian university students.

Results

Results confirmed our hypotheses, showing that: (a) receiving social support is important to the capacity for self‐kindness both directly and indirectly through the ability to “be present,” and (b) the relationship between social support and psychological distress is partially mediated by the practices of self‐kindness and being present. The model of social support, being present, and self‐kindness accounted for half the variance in psychological distress. With the addition of stressors, a regression model explained a total of 62% of the variance.

Conclusions

These findings have implications for understanding the construct of self‐kindness and its role in the development of interventions to improve student success.

Key words:

• college students
• mental health
• mindfulness
• psychological distress
• self‐kindness
• social support