Impact of Emotional Regulation, Parental Autonomy and Social Media Use on Self Compassion among Adults

Abstract

Rising unemployment, growing mental health issues and lack of equitable resources are a growing concern in a country like India. The sample in this study, 18-30 years, face a myriad of issues that are of grave concern. The moment people reach their eighteen, they enter adulthood and face a significant change in their identity, especially related to their career growth. The ever-changing societal pressure takes a forefront in their life, and they struggle with building their own identity. Lack of good self-esteem along with self-compassion lowers their performance. On top of this, the increased use of social media fuels their insecurities. Lack of healthy supportive parental relationships also plays a huge role in lowered emotional regulation. All of these concerns just make it difficult for the sample to build a healthy sense of independent self. Emotional regulation is the ability to manage your emotions while parental autonomy is a parenting style that involves an environment that supports a child’s need to be autonomous and independent. Social media use involves a form of recreation activity that people take part in to entertain themselves like watching Snapchat, doom-scrolling Instagram. Self-compassion concept involves being kind to oneself, being your own support system and being a forgiving person when things go hard. A total sample of 43 respondents in the age group of 18-30 years was collected. Standardized scales are used to measure variables, Emotional Regulation, Parental Autonomy, Social Media Use and Self- Compassion. The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of emotional regulation, parental autonomy and social media use on self-compassion in the chosen sample. The results found a significant relationship between Self compassion and emotional regulation, self- compassion and autonomy support and self-compassion and social media use. Social media usage is also found to be significantly correlated with difficulties in emotional regulation. It has been suggested to practice mindfulness, practice cognitive reappraisal and inculcate breathing exercises for improved emotional regulation and self-compassion in oneself.