Effect of Psychological Distress on Proactive Coping among University Students in Gilgit Baltistan: Moderating Role of Self-Compassion and Resilience

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to examine the effect of psychological distress on proactive coping with moderating role of self-compassion and resilience among university students of Gilgit-Baltistan. The sample of the study comprised of university students (150 male and 150 female) of Gilgit-Baltistan with age range from 18 to 29 years. The cross sectional design was used. Purposive sampling technique was used to collect data. Kesslers Psychological Distress Scale (Kessler, 1992), Proactive Coping Scale (Greenglass, Schwarzer, Jakubiec, Fiksenbaum, &Taubert, 1999), Self-Compassion Scale (Short Form) (Neff, 2003) and Brief Resilience Scale (Smith et al., 2008) were used to measure psychological distress, proactive coping, self-compassion and resilience respectively. Findings showed good reliability of the scales. Regression analysis showed that psychological distress negatively predicts proactive coping. Correlational analysis revealed positive correlation between proactive coping, self-compassion and resilience. Correlational analysis also revealed negative correlation of psychological distress with proactive coping, self-compassion and resilience. Regression analysis also demonstrated that self-compassion and resilience significantly moderates among the relationship of psychological distress and proactive coping. The differences on the basis of demographic variables gender, age, education, relationship status, discipline and socioeconomic status were also evaluated on psychological distress, proactive coping, self-compassion and resilience. The t-test analysis found non-significant differences along demographic variables on the study variables except for resilience. Male students scored higher on resilience as compared to female students and on socioeconomic status, middle class socioeconomic students, scored higher on resilience as compared to upper and lower class students.