The Role of Personal Growth Initiative in the Relationship between Self-Compassion and Self Esteem among College Students

Abstract

Self Compassion can be regarded as looking with kindness and being mindful of one’s aspects. Self Esteem is the personal value attributed to self.  Personal Growth Initiative is defined as one’s active and intentional involvement in changing as a person and is a meta-cognitive construct that describes an orientation towards engaging in the growth seeking process.  Literature reviewed show that Personal Growth Initiative, Self Compassion and Self Esteem are interconnected. As there were no studies which revealed about how these variables influence each other, this study aims to explore the role of Personal Growth Initiative in the relationship between Self Compassion and Self Esteem among College Students. The study was conducted on 120 Undergraduate and Postgraduate students in Mangalore city using convenient sampling method. The tools used for data collection were Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale, Neff’s Self Compassion Scale (short form) and Personal Growth Initiative Scale. Mediation analysis was used for statistical analysis. Results show that Personal Growth Initiative partially mediates the relationship between Self Compassion and Self Esteem.