The mediating role of forgiveness in the relationship between spiritual well-being and self-compassion

In this study, it was aimed to examine the mediating role of forgiveness in the relationship between spiritual well-being and self-compassion in university students. In addition, the sub-objectives of this study are to examine spiritual well-being, self-compassion and forgiveness in terms of gender and family income level variables. The sample group of the study, which was conducted in accordance with the relational screening model, consisted of 459 university students 380 women (82.8%) and 79 men (17.2%) studying at Marmara University Atatürk Faculty of Education in the 2017-2018 academic year. The research data were obtained by using Heartland Forgiveness Scale, Self-sensitivity Scale, Spiritual Well-being Scale. The research data were analyzed through SPSS 21 package program and AMOS 20.0 program. Independent Groups t Test and ANOVA (One-Way Variance Analysis) were used to determine whether the variables of spiritual well-being, forgiveness and self-compassion differ according to gender and family income level variables. The Structural Equation Model was used to examine the mediating role of forgiveness in the relationship between spiritual well-being and self-compassion. As a result of the research, it was seen that forgiveness had a partial mediating role in the relationship between spiritual well-being and self-compassion. The fit indices of the tested model were found to be at acceptable and excellent levels, thus the structural equation model for the mediating role of forgiveness in the relationship between spiritual well-being and self-compassion was confirmed. It was observed that the scores of self-compassion, self-judgment, common humanity, spiritual well-being and harmony with nature differ according to the gender variable. It was observed that the scores of self-compassion, self-kindness and over-identification differ according to the family income level variable. It was observed that the self-compassion, common humanity, spiritual well-being and harmony with nature scores of females were higher than the males; that the self-judgment scores of the males were higher than the females. It was observed that the self-compassion and self-kindness scores of the higher income levels were higher than the middle income levels; that the over-identification scores of the middle-income levels were higher than the lower-income levels.