Examining the relationship between childhood psychological abuse, beliefs and self-compassion

The present study aimed to examine the relationships between childhood psychological abuse, rational and irrational beliefs, and self-compassion, as well as to evaluate the mediating role of beliefs in these relationships. The study sample consisted of 547 university students, of whom 65% (n = 355) were female and 35% (n = 192) were male. The participants' ages ranged from 18 to 42, with a mean age of 21.29. Data were collected using a personal information form, the Psychological Abuse Scale, the General Attitudes and Beliefs Scale, and the Self-Compassion Scale–Short Form. Correlation and mediation analyses were conducted using SPSS version 27 and PROCESS Macro version 4.2. Following the confirmation of normality assumptions, correlation analyses revealed that childhood psychological abuse was significantly negatively associated with both self-compassion and rational beliefs, and positively associated with irrational beliefs. Additionally, rational beliefs were positively correlated with self-compassion, while irrational beliefs were negatively correlated with it. Mediation analyses indicated that rational and irrational beliefs partially mediated the relationship between childhood psychological abuse and self-compassion. The proposed model accounted for 38% of the variance in selfcompassion. The findings demonstrated that childhood psychological abuse adversely affects individuals' self-compassion levels by weakening their adherence to rational beliefs and strengthening their adherence to irrational beliefs. The results were discussed in light of the relevant literature, and various recommendations were provided for mental health professionals and researchers.