The Effect of Self-Compassion Training on Adolescent Girls’ Moral Decision-Making Processes

The present study investigated the effect of self-compassion training on the moral decision-making processes in adolescent girls. The training package was developed based on Bluth’s (2017) self-compassion guidelines. The participants were 40 high school girl students selected from Shiraz University high school and were divided into experimental and control groups using a pretest-posttest design. The study instruments included the following: Moral Awareness Scenario Test (MAST), Defining Issues Test (DIT), Multidimensional Ethics Scale (MES), Public good games (PGG), and mindful self-compassion (MSC) training. To determine the validity of the MSC training package, MSC pretest and posttest scores were compared and the increase in the scores of the experimental group compared to the control group confirmed the validity of the package. The multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) results showed a significant increase in the experimental group’s moral awareness, moral judgment, and moral action scales. The results also revealed that there was no significant difference between the experimental and control groups regarding the posttest scores of moral intention when the pretest score was controlled. Therefore, based on the results, it can be concluded that self-compassion, as a core variable of mindfulness, is teachable and can significantly improve moral decision-making processes in adolescent girls.