Abstract

• The aim of this study is to investigate forgiveness, perfectionism, and self-compassion of undergraduate students from Sagaing University of Education. The study conducted a survey research design and employed with a quantitative method. As the research instruments, Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS; Thompson et al., 2005), Almost Perfect scale - Revised (APS-R; Slaney et al., 2001), and Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003b) were applied. A total of 754 undergraduate students (310 males, 444 females) were selected from Sagaing University of Education as participants. Descriptive statistics, independent sample t test, correlation analysis and regression were used in this study. The results revealed that there was no significant difference in forgiveness, and perfectionism by gender but there was significant difference in self-compassion by gender, females are higher than males. The results showed that there was significant difference in forgiveness, and perfectionism by grade, only between third year and fifth year students. Third year students are higher than fifth year students. But there was no significant difference in self-compassion by grade. And, there was no significant difference in forgiveness, perfectionism, and self-compassion by subject stream. The findings revealed that there was low negative significant correlation between forgiveness and discrepancy of perfectionism and between self-compassion and discrepancy of perfectionism. According to Multiple Regression analyses, forgiveness was key predictor on perfectionism since adjusted R2 result showed that 57% of variance in discrepancy of perfectionism which was explained by forgiveness. The results also showed that self-compassion was key predictor on perfectionism since adjusted R2 result showed that 20% of variance in discrepancy of perfectionism which was explained by self-compassion. Finally, students’ positive perception upon negative events and performances should be developed with the help of teachers and parents so that they might not blame themselves or others negatively when the things they don’t want happen.