Studying the phenomenon of self-compassion in the context of preventing academic procrastination

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Introduction. Currently, the presence of procrastination causes contradictions in modern conditions of society, which places special demands on the independence, initiative, motivation and responsibility of the individual. Scientific research describes in sufficient detail the factors that cause procrastination. There is less research on the relationship between procrastination and such an aspect of personality as self-compassion. The purpose of our study is to examine the relationship between procrastination and self-compassion among university students. Materials and methods. The sample consisted of 157 students of the St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, of which 77 boys and 80 girls aged 19 to 22 years. The assumption that procrastination depends on self-compassion and self-esteem was tested using the Self-Compassion Scale by K. Neff, adapted by K.A. Chistopolskaya et al., test «Degree of severity of procrastination» (SVP) by M.A. Kiseleva, N.E. Shustova, O.V. Karina and the test «Personal Self-Esteem» by O.I. Motkova. The obtained empirical results were verified using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, Student's t-test, Pearson correlation analysis, and regression analysis. Results. It was revealed that 28% of students have a high level of self-compassion, 69% have an average level, 3% do not show self-compassion. The level of self-compassion among girls was significantly higher (79.3±10.0) than among boys (75.5±12.2). There is a negative relationship between indicators of self-compassion and indicators of procrastination: with a high level of self-compassion in a student, motivational insufficiency (r=- 0.24; p≤0.05), procrastination (r=-0.21; p≤0.05), anxiety (r=-0.31; p≤0.05). A positive relationship between self-compassion and self-esteem indicators was found. As a result of regression analysis, two components of self-compassion influencing procrastination were identified: self-isolation (B = -0.44) and excessive identification with negative emotions (B = -0.24). Conclusion. The results obtained show the need to develop self-compassion as a factor reducing personal procrastination.