Abstract

• The purpose of this study was to investigate self-compassion and emotional regulation of pre-service teachers in Sagaing University of Education. Quantitative approach was used in this study. A total of 900 pre-service teachers in Sagaing University of Education were used as the sample by using stratified random sampling technique. Self-compassion Scale (SCS) developed by Neff (2003) which consists of 26 items was used to measure the pre-service teachers’ self-compassion. It consists of six subscales. And Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) developed by Garnefski et al., (2001) which consists of 36 items was used to measure emotional regulation of pre-service teachers. It consists of nine subscales. Then, the data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, Pearson's product moment correlation, t test, ANOVA and simple linear regression. The results revealed that significant differences were found by gender in both self-compassion and emotional regulation. In self-compassion, males had higher level of self-compassion than females did. In emotional regulation, females had higher level of emotional regulation than males did. The ANOVA result revealed that significant difference was found by grade in self-compassion. By seeing the result, fourth year had the highest level of self- compassion, followed by the fifth year and third year. But no significant difference was found by grade in emotional regulation. According to number of siblings, no significant differences were found in both self-compassion and emotional regulation. After that, there were no significant differences by parents’ education level in both self-compassion and emotional regulation. After that, the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation result revealed that a positively significant relationship (r=.511**) was found between self-compassion and emotional regulation. Finally, it can be concluded that pre-service teachers’ self-compassion could influence their emotional regulation. Thus, to be good self-compassion and emotional regulation of pre-service teachers who will become leaders of society, meditation practice and exposure to Buddhist teachings are essential for pre-service teachers.