Role of Coping Strategies and Self Compassion in Psychological Distress among College Students

Abstract

Life at college can be challenging and stressful, which can be a significant threat to college students' mental health. Students have increasing responsibilities, and competing demands such as academic pressure, family, social and personal interests, culture shock, homesickness, and working while studying cause substantial distress. The current study was designed to find the predictive relationship between coping strategies, self-compassion, and psychological distress in college students. Independent research design and purposive sampling were used to collect data from participants (male = 100, female = 100) aged 14 to 19 years (M = 17.49, SD = 1.28) from three private and four government colleges in Lahore with a sample size of N = 200. The Self-Compassion Scale SCS (Kristin Neff, 2003), Psychological Distress Scale DASS (Lovibond, 1995), and Coping Strategies Inventory CSI (David L. Tobin, 1989) were used to measure self-compassion, coping strategies, and psychological distress in college students. Simple Linear Regression and Descriptive Statistics were used to analyses data to find out prediction and descriptive. Disengagement coping strategies had a significant positive predictive relationship with psychological distress. Engagement, coping strategies, and self-compassion had a negative predictive relationship with psychological distress. Overall, the findings suggest that coping strategies and self-compassion may be useful additions to interventions to mitigate student distress and improve student well-being.