College Student Drinkers Have Higher Self-Compassion Scores than Nondrinkers

• Published in: International journal of mental health and addiction Vol. 17; no. 3; pp. 658 - 666
• Main Authors: Ellingwood, Lauren, Espinoza, Marc-Anthony, Acevedo, Mayra, Olson, Lisa E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alcohol use; Alcoholism; Brief Report; College students; Community and Environmental Psychology; Compassion; Enrollments; Ethnicity; Fraternities & sororities; Health Psychology; Independent sample; Males; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental health; Mindfulness; Psychiatry; Psychology; Public Health; Rehabilitation; Self compassion; Spirituality; United States > US; Binge drinking; Forgiveness; Alcohol; College students; Self-compassion
• ISSN: 1557-1874; 1557-1882
• DOI: 10.1007/s11469-018-9919-3

Forgiveness, particularly forgiveness of oneself, has been associated with lower alcohol use in several samples. We aimed to confirm this finding in college students and expand it by exploring the relationship of self-compassion to alcohol use. Surprisingly, we found that students who drank ( n  = 54) scored higher than nondrinkers ( n  = 30) on the self-kindness and mindfulness aspects of the Self-Compassion Scale, as well as the self-forgiveness aspect of the Heartland Forgiveness Scale. There was no statistical difference between social drinkers and binge drinkers. The relationships of self-compassion and forgiveness to alcohol use and abuse should be further investigated to clarify conflicting results, and a longitudinal cohort study could be particularly useful in elucidating whether self-compassion and forgiveness are related to one’s decision to drink alcohol at all.