An examination of psychological symptoms and self-compassion levels of university students

The purpose of the study was to examine the psychological symptoms and self-compassion levels of university students in terms of some variables (faculty, gender, nutrition, sleep, social media stay duration, and perceived academic achievement level) and to examine the relationship between psychological symptom and self-compassion. The study population was the students studying in different faculties of Sakarya University in 2019-2020 academic year. The sampling method used was proportional cluster sampling method using which 960 students - studying in 2019-2020 academic year - of whom 550 were females and 410 males were selected from various faculties (Education, Science, Literature, Theology, Political Science, Communication, Business, Art, Design and Architecture, Computer and Informatics, Law and Health Sciences) of Sakarya University. Some faculties (Faculty of Dentistry, State Conservatory, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Medical School, and Faculty of Technology) of Sakarya University were not included in the proportioning process because of the low number of students. The study was a "relational screening" study as a sub-type of general screening model. Self-compassion scale was used to determine the students' self-compassion scores, and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) was used to determine the psychological symptom scores. Some information about the students' charactersitics (faculty, gender, nutrition, sleep, social media stay duration, and perceived academic achievement level) was obtained using a researcher-developed personal information form. The study found a significant relationship between self-compassion scores of university students and all sub-dimensions of psychological symptoms. While the level of self-compassion differed significantly according to gender and education faculty, it showed no significant differences according to nutritional habits, perceived academic achievement level, social media stay duration and sleep patterns. All sub-dimensions of psychological symptoms showed significant differences with nutritional habits and sleep patterns. While the depression scores of the students differed significantly according to gender, nutritional habits, sleep patterns, and perceived academic achievement levels, there were no significant differences between depression scores according to the faculty and social media stay duration. While students' anxiety scores differed significantly according to nutritional habits and sleep patterns, these scores did not differ significantly in terms of gender, type of accommodation, faculty of education, and social media stay duration. While the somatization scores of the students differed significantly in terms of gender, sleep patterns, nutritional habits and perceived academic achievement levels, these scores did not differ significantly according to the faculty and social media stay duration. While students' negative self-scores differ significantly in terms of sleep patterns, eating habits, and perceived academic achievement levels, these scores did not differ significantly according to gender, faculty of education, and social media stay duration. While students' hostility scores differed significantly in terms of gender, sleep patterns, nutritional habits, social media stay duration and perceived academic achievement level, these scores did not differ significantly according to the faculty of education. Keywords: Psychological symptoms, Self-compassion, Anxiety, Depression, Negative self, Hostility, Somatization