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Highlights
Social safeness has negative relationships with depression, anxiety, and stress.
● Self-compassion has negative relationships with depression, anxiety, and stress.
● Social safeness is negatively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress through self-compassion as a mediator.
Plain Language Summary
Gilbert’s theory suggests a three-part emotional system. The first system (threat system) is sensitive to the signs of threat and evokes negative emotions such as anxiety and anger to protect the person. The second system (drive system) is sensitive to the signs of rewards and evokes active, positive emotions such as vitality and excitement. The third system (soothing system) is sensitive to the signs of warmth and affiliation and produces lower arousal positive emotions such as calmness, contentment, and safeness. When this system is activated, one perceives the social world as safe, warm, and soothing. This emotional state is called social safeness that plays an essential role in mental health. Also, individuals with lower levels of social safeness fail to show self-compassion (compassionate behavior and attitude toward oneself), which in turn leads to mental health problems. The present study examined a model in which social safeness is related to mental health problems (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress) through self-compassion. A total of 344 students participated in the research. According to the results, social safety and self-compassion have negative relationships with depression, anxiety, and stress. Also, social safeness is associated with low depression, anxiety, and stress through self-compassion. So it is recommended that mental disorders prevention and treatment programs consider self-compassion a vital component.