Self-compassion and self-coldness and their relationship with psychological distress and subjective well-being among community-based Hazaras in Australia

Abstract

Hazaras are a newly emerging community in Australia and limited research has explored their mental health. The first aim of this study was to explore levels of psychological distress and subjective well-being reported by Hazaras in Australia, and whether scores on psychosocial variables (self-compassion, self-coldness, acculturation, resilience, spirituality), psychological distress and domains of subjective well-being differed by sociodemographic groups. The second aim had two parts: (a) to examine bivariate relationships between the psychosocial variables, psychological distress and subjective well-being; and (b) to examine whether the psychosocial predictor variables independently contributed to subjective well-being and psychological distress when controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. Seventy-two Hazaras (58 men and 14 women), with a mean age of 28.82 years ( SD = 8.84) and average length of time residing in Australia of 10.17 years ( SD = 4.11), completed an online survey. There were sociodemographic differences in relation to key variables of interest; for example, participants who did not have family members in Australia reported lower levels of global life satisfaction. Moderate negative relationships were found between self-compassion and psychological distress and between self-coldness and subjective well-being. Self-coldness, self-compassion, resilience and acculturation contributed uniquely to psychological distress and subjective well-being when controlling for sociodemographic variables. Although migration programmes that provide permanent residency and allow family members to join refugees in Australia are limited, they appear important. Many of the difficulties facing Hazaras are ongoing, external and beyond their control (e.g. visa status); however, there is a possibility that self-compassion can play a role as a protective factor.