Role of Self-Compassion in Transition from School to College

Abstract

Transitioning from school to college can be a significant time in a student’s life, during which emotional, academic, and social disruption often occurs. Successfully making this leap can depend on a host of psychological resources, including self-compassion, which appears to be a potential buffer to stress and a facilitator for positive psychological adjustment. This quantitative study looks at how self-compassion operates in facilitating this transition by examining self-compassion concerning perceived stress and optimism in first-year undergraduate students. One hundred thirteen undergraduate first-year students from three streams of study - engineering, commerce, and humanities - made up the sample. Standardized instruments were used to measure the constructs of interest: the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) as a measure of self-compassion; the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) as a measure of stress; and the Optimism Scale to measure dispositional optimism. The demographic variables of gender and academic stream were included as independent variables to explore group differences in the level of self-compassion, perceived levels of stress, and optimism levels. The ultimate goal of this study was to see if higher selfcompassion was associated with lower perceived stress and higher optimism levels at the onset of college life, and to explore how these relationships might differ based on gender and academic stream. The findings are expected to offer insights into the psychological mechanisms underlying student adjustment and contribute to developing targeted interventions and support systems that enhance student well-being during the transition to higher education.