The Mediating Role of Self-compassion in the Relationship Between Self-concept and Body Image and Social Anxiety in Female Students of Isfahan University of Technology

Social anxiety disorder refers to an overt and persistent fear of social or functional situations. Self-concept can play a significant role in explaining social anxiety. This study aimed to determine the mediating role of self-compassion in the relationship between self-concept and social anxiety of female students of the Isfahan University of Technology. The present study indicated a correlation scheme and the method of structural equations was used based on the partial least squares approach. A sample of 300 female students from the Isfahan University of Technology was selected by voluntary sampling method. The Nef Self-Compassion Scale, Beck, et al.'s (1990) Self-Esteem Scale, and Connor et al.'s (2000) Social Anxiety Inventory were used to collect data. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software version 25 and AMOS version 22. The results showed that compassion reduces social anxiety by 22.3% of the path between self-concept and social anxiety. In addition, self-compassion has a minor mediating role in the relationship between self-concept and social anxiety (p <0.05). Self-compassion has a minor mediating role in the social anxiety of female students (p <0.05). Self-concept has a negative effect on students' social anxiety (p <0.05). Finally, the importance of self-concept in explaining social anxiety and self-compassion has a mediating role between self-concept and social anxiety.