The mediating role of self compassion in the relationship between perfectionism and psychological symptoms

The main purpose of this thesis study is, the mediating role of self-compassion in relation between perfectionism and psychological symptoms. The research consists of 353 participants (of whom 206 are female and 147 male). The participants live in İstanbul and the age of them ranged from 18-60. The research participants were reached by random sampling method. 'Sociodemographic Information Form, Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, Brief Symptom Inventory and Self-Compassion Scale' were applied as participants data collection tool in the research. The findings of this research showed that perfectionism scores correlated with psychological sympto scores positively; and correlated with self-compassion scores negatively. Also, self-compassion scores correlated with psychological symptom scores negatively. All of these findings were statistically significant. In the structural model obtained as a result of the research, it was observed that self-compassion played a partial mediating role in the relationship between perfectionism and psychological symptoms. In the analysis of demographic variables, it was concluded that there were significant differences in total perfectionism scores according to the gender and income levels of the participants. Also, there were significant differences among the total psychological symptom scores according to study, education, marital status and income levels. There was no statistically significant difference in total self-compassion scores according to demographic variables. The findings of the study were discussed with the relevant literature support and recommendations were made for future studies. Key Words: Perfectionism, Psychological Symptoms, Self-Compassion