Growing compassion in poverty: Understanding self-compassion among underprivileged college students in Jakarta

Bijak Aditia Hutomo (), Lussy Dwiutami Wahyuni () and Santi Yudhistira ()
Additional contact information
Bijak Aditia Hutomo: Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Negeri Jakarta
Lussy Dwiutami Wahyuni: Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Negeri Jakarta
Santi Yudhistira: Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Negeri Jakarta

Priviet Social Sciences Journal, 2026, vol. 6, issue 8, 128-137

Abstract: Financial restraints are among the most obvious problems faced by college students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, as insufficient economic resources can impair not only academic progress but also psychological well-being. This study aimed to provide an overview of self-compassion among poor undergraduate students. This study used a cross-sectional, quantitative, and descriptive methodology. Two hundred ninety-five underprivileged college students from Jakarta, Indonesia, participated in this study. This study used a self-compassion measure to collect data on self-compassion, along with demographic information (gender, age, and household income). The results show that college students from disadvantaged backgrounds typically exhibit high levels of self-compassion. Analysis of the dimensions showed varying tendencies in self-kindness (moderate to high), common humanity (moderate to high), mindfulness (moderate to high), self-judgment (low to moderate), isolation (moderate), and over-identification (low to high), reflecting a balanced combination of compassionate and uncompassionate self-responding. Furthermore, additional analyses revealed no significant differences in overall self-compassion across demographic variables, including gender, age, and parental income. These results suggest that, despite the economic limitations they experience, underprivileged students can maintain a relatively high level of self-compassion, which may help them navigate academic pressures and financial stress more adaptively. This study highlights the importance of exploring strengths among underprivileged youth. This study provides a basis for future research on the role of self-compassion in promoting psychological resilience among disadvantaged student populations.

Keywords: self-compassion; well-being; underprivileged college students; poverty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journal.privietlab.org/download.php?id=12341 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:prv:pssjpv:1216

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://journal.priv ... SJ/article/view/1216

DOI: 10.55942/pssj.v6i8.1216

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Priviet Social Sciences Journal from Privietlab Research Center
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mochammad Fahlevi ().