Does Self-Compassion Predict Spiritual Experiences of Turkish University Students?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive role of self-compassion on spiritual experiences. Participants were 285 university students. In this study, the self-compassion scale and the spiritual experiences scale were used. Self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness factors of self-compassion were found positively, and self-judgment, isolation, and over-identification factors of self-compassion were found negatively related to spiritual experiences. According to regression results, spiritual experiences were predicted negatively by self-judgment and over-identification. Further common humanity predicted spiritual experiences in a positive way. Self-compassion has explained 21 % of the variance in spiritual experiences.