Compassion Predictors in Undergraduates: A Catholic College Example

Abstract

Compassion is sorely needed in contemporary society including within faith based colleges. Past research has examined the prevention of compassion fatigue in healthcare professions, but relatively little research exists on the predictors of compassion, particularly among student populations. This study examines the factors associated with higher compassion levels in graduating college seniors revealing demographic, experiential, and belief-related factors contributing to compassion. Results suggest that the general profile of a highly compassionate graduating college senior is a student who is female, politically liberal, religious, studying the natural or social sciences, actively involved in community service or volunteering, and who has undergone workshops on racial/cultural awareness and sensitivity.

Psychometric evaluation of the Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale in the Czech environment (SCBCS)

“…The absence of a relationship between compassion and education is in line with the findings of Martin , which did not find this relationship. Nevertheless, these findings are in contrast with a number of studies showing that social class, which is closely related to education (Marioni et al, 2014), predicts a lower degree of compassion in individuals who are higher in the socioeconomic hierarchy (Callister & Plante, 2017;Piff & Moskowitz, 2018;Stellar et al, 2012). Contrasting results could be partially attributed to a large number of our respondents being students who will reach the peak of the socioeconomic ladder after completing their education.…”

“…Our findings that religious individuals tend to be more compassionate are in accordance with results from previous studies e.g. Callister & Plante (2017); Hwang et al, (2008). One explanation may be that individuals who were raised in a religious environment were subject to religious education, where the cultivation of compassion is integral (Callister & Plante, 2017).…”

“…Our findings regarding females being significantly more compassionate than males supports convergent validity of the Czech scale. This result is in line with findings from other studies (Callister & Plante, 2017;Hwang et al, 2008;Moore, Martin, et al, 2015;Plante & Mejia, 2016). From an evolutionary perspective, higher degrees of compassion in females might be caused by selection pressure favouring survival of infants of mothers who were more sensitive to the infant's needs (Decety & Svetlova, 2012).…”

“…The SCBCS has a unidimensional structure and is used for research purposes in psychology of health and personality (Boswell, 2012;Fortney et al, 2013;Shapiro et al, 2012;Taylor et al, 2016), Psychometric evaluation of the Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale in the Czech environment (SCBCS). moral psychology (Shapiro et al, 2012) neuropsychology (Moore, Dev, et al, 2015) or in educational research (Callister & Plante, 2017).…”

The role of prosocial attitudes and academic achievement in peer networks in higher education

“…In addition to prosociality and achievement, several other factors can contribute or hamper the formation of peer relationships. Callister and Plante (2017) showed, for example, that females and social sciences students are more intended to help others. The learning environment may also have an impact on how student's prosocial attitudes reveal or whether their achievements are more pronounced and consequently, whether students are willing to help each other.…”