The COVID-19 pandemic has been disrupting many aspects of our lives and negatively affecting our wellbeing. According to a recent report by the International Labor Organization (2020), 50% of youths worldwide have difficulty to find a job or to maintain their studies or to adjust their lifestyle with social distancing during the pandemic, which leads to higher incidence of depression and anxiety among youths. Although in times of adversity, studies have suggested that possessing positive psychological traits like self-compassion and meaning-in-life can help individuals to cope with the challenges (Petrocchi & Couyoumdjian, 2016; Lomas & Ivtzan, 2016). Thus, the current study aims to examine if youths in Hong Kong who possess these positive psychological traits can protect their wellbeing during the pandemic.
This study focuses on the relations of three positive-psychological traits (self-compassion, compassion-to-others, and meaning-in-life) with flourishing. It was hypothesized that self-compassion, compassion-to-others, and meaning-in-life predicted more positive attitudes towards the pandemic, which then predicted higher levels of flourishing. An online survey was administered to 252 participants aged 19-25 between February and May 2020. The collected data was analyzed using path analysis.
Our proposed model demonstrated good fit (CFI: 0.976; TLI: 0.912; RMSEA: 0.077; SRMR: 0.068). The results showed that meaning-in-life, self-compassion and compassion-to-other significantly predicted more positive attitude towards COVID-19 pandemic and higher level of flourishing.
The study was conducted during the beginning of pandemic with the highest uncertainty and threats. Despite the severe circumstances, self-compassion and meaning-in-life predicted more positive attitudes towards COVID-19 among youths in Hong Kong. One important implication is the protective nature of self-compassion and meaning-in-life on youth’s wellbeing through changing their attitudes towards any crises. It is suggested that promoting and developing self-compassion and meaning-centered intervention can facilitate wellbeing among youth in Hong Kong facing a lot of difficulties.