The effect of the self-compassion development program for high school students on risky behaviors

The aim of this thesis is to examine the effect of self-compassion development program for high school students on risky behaviors. In the study, Risky Behaviors Scale and Self-Compassion Scale Short Form were applied to 250 (9th and 10th grade) high school students studying in a high school affiliated to the Ministry of National Education. Students with low scores on the Short Form of the Self-Compassion Scale were determined, and 39 students with high scores on the Risky Behavior Scale were selected from these students. One of the quasi-experimental designs, "pretest-posttest paired control group design" was used. While creating the sample, multi-stage sampling method was used. First, the students whose scores were equivalent as a result of purposeful sampling were matched. Each of the matched students was randomly placed in the experiment, placebo and control groups. At this stage, simple random sampling was done. The "Self-Compassion Development Program" created by the researcher was applied to the experimental group, and the "Profession Selection" program was applied to the placebo group. Risky Behaviors Scale and Self-Compassion Scale Short Form were used as data collection tools. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed to test the result of the experimental procedure. As a result of the research, there was a decrease in the risky behaviors of high school students in the self-compassion development program. In addition, the self-compassion development program was found to be effective on the self-compassion levels of high school students.