The mediating role of ruminative thinking style in the relationship between self compassion and psychological symptoms

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of ruminative thinking style as a mediator of the relationship between self-compassion and psychological symptoms. The research was examined in accordance with the relational screening model. The study was conducted with a total of 471 participants 353 females and 118 males, age between 18-65. As data collection tools, sociodemographic information form prepared by the researcher, Self-Compassion Scale, Ruminative Thought Style Questionnaire, and Brief Symptom Inventory were used. Independent Groups t-test, One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Correlation Analysis, Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analysis and Sobel Test were used to analyze the data. The findings of this research showed that self-compassion scores correlated with psychological symptom scores and ruminative thinking style scores negatively. Also, ruminative thinking style scores correlated with psychological symptom scores positively. As a result of regression analysis, it was determined that ruminative thinking style played a partial mediating role in the relationship between self-compassion and psychological symptoms. The results of the study were discussed within the framework of the relevant literature and suggestions were given for future studies.