The effect of self-compassion on relationship satisfaction level in students of Çukurova University Faculty of Medicine

Background and Aim: This study aims to determine the self-compassion and relationship satisfaction levels of medical school students and to examine the effect of students' self-compassion levels on relationship satisfaction level. Besides, it is aimed to investigate the effects of students' characteristics such as gender, class, mean income of the family, family attitude, student's academic achievement level, participation in social and sports activities and romantic relationship status. Material and Methods: The universe of the study was 966 students in the first, third and sixth year Medical School of Cukurova University in 2019-2020 academic year. The sample size was calculated as 298. The students completed the Sociodemographic Data Questionnaire (23 items), the Self-Compassion Scale (24 items), and the Relationship Satisfaction Scale (7 questions). Data was analyzed using SPSS 23.0 package program. Results: Of 298 medical school students, 58,1% (n=173) was female and 41,9% (n=125) was male. The mean age was 21,812,38 (min=17, max=27) years. The mean score for the Self-Compassion Scale was 72,40 (min: 27, max: 113) and the mean score for the Relationship Satisfaction Scale was 29,99 (min: 7, max: 43). There was no significant correlation between the Self-Compassion Scale and the Relationship Satisfaction Scale (p>0,05). Male students had significantly higher scores in the SelfCompassion Scale than female students (p=0,023). There was no significant relationship between the grade and the Self-Compassion Scale and the Relationship Satisfaction Scale scores (p>0,05). Economic status of the student's family was not significantly related to mean scores of the Relationship Satisfaction Scale (p>0,05) however was significantly related with the scores of the Self-Compassion Scale (p=0,003). The place of living for the student was not significantly related to mean scores of the Relationship Satisfaction Scale (p>0,05) however was significantly related with the scores of the Self-Compassion Scale (p=0,041). Participation in social activities was not significantly related to mean scores of the Relationship Satisfaction Scale (p>0,05) however was significantly related with the scores of the Self-Compassion Scale (p=0,0001). The students having social activities more than 10 hours a week had higher scores of selfcompassion compared to the ones having social activities less than 10 hours a week. Conclusion: The concept of self-compassion and its relationship with several concepts including depression, anxiety and stress, life satisfaction, psychological wellbeing, emotional intelligence, values, self-confidence and submissive behavior, social support and academic achievement, psychological strength and rumination. It was found that these concepts were closely related to self-compassion which can be a predictor. To our knowledge, there was no study in literature studying the relationship between selfcompassion and relationship satisfaction. It is clear that more research is needed on the effect of self-compassion on relationship satisfaction. Our study is one of the few studies on this subject. Keywords: Self-compassion, Relationship Satisfaction, Medical School, Student, Family Medicine.