The mediating role of self compassionin the relationship between psychological vulnerability and psychological flexibility levels of high school students

The aim of this study is to examine the mediating role of self-compassion in the relationship between high school students' levels of psychological vulnerability and psychological flexibility. The study group of the research consists of 726 students studying in the 9th, 10th and 11th grades of a high school in the central district of Konya in the Fall Term of the 2021-2022 Academic Year. Of the participants, 387 (53%) female and 339 (47%) male students. The average age of students in the 15-17 age range is 16.1. It consists of 222 high school freshmen, 211 high school sophomores, and 293 high school 3rd year students. "Personal Information Form", "Psychological Vulnerability Scale"," Psychological Flexibility Scale" and "Self-Compassion Scale" were applied to the participants. The obtained data were analyzed with the structural equation model. As a result of the structural equation model applied, it was seen that self-compassion had a partial mediating role in the relationship between psychological vulnerability and psychological flexibility. In other words, it was found that psychological vulnerability directly and through self-compassion predicted psychological flexibility. In addition, it was observed that the mediation of self-compassion was significant between psychological vulnerability and psychological flexibility after the bootstrapping process. The findings obtained as a result of the research were discussed within the framework of the relevant literature and suggestions were made for future research and those working in the field. Keywords: Psychological vulnerability, Self-compassion, psychological flexibility, Structural equation model.