Objectives This study aimed to explore the chain mediating roles of psychological resilience and well-being between self-compassion and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among Chinese college students from the perspective of positive psychology. Methods A total of 1,083 college students were recruited from three universities in Zhenjiang, Nanchang, and Fuzhou, China. Participants voluntarily completed the Self-Compassion Scale, Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale, Index of Well-Being Scale, and Adolescents Self-Harm Scale. Results The results showed that: (1) Self-compassion and its components, psychological resilience, and well-being and its dimensions were all significantly positively correlated with each other, and all were significantly negatively correlated with NSSI. (2) Well-being mediated the relationship between self-compassion and NSSI, while psychological resilience and well-being sequentially mediated the association between self-compassion and NSSI. (3) The indirect association pathways between the components of self-compassion and NSSI might differ: the negative association between common humanity and NSSI could be manifested through the independent mediating role of well-being as well as the chain mediating roles of psychological resilience and well-being; whereas self-kindness and mindfulness were negatively associated with NSSI only through the chain mediating roles of psychological resilience and well-being. (4) The indirect effect of mindfulness on NSSI was significantly greater than that of the other components of self-compassion. Conclusion Psychological resilience and well-being are important mediating variables in the relationship between self-compassion and NSSI among college students. Specifically, mindfulness may serve as a key component enabling self-compassion to exert its protective effects, and well-being may play a more crucial mediating role between self-compassion and NSSI.
Hu et al. (Tue,) studied this question.