The role of satisfying basic psychological needs and self-compassion in predicting bullying in high school students

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of satisfying basical psychological needs and self-compassion in predicting bullying in high school students. The research method is descriptive-correlational. The statistical population consisted of all male and female high school students in Tehran in the academic year of 1398-98 that were 224400 people. The sample size was estimated 380 using Krejcie and Morgan table and were selected by cluster random sampling. Data were collected using the Bullying Questionnaire (Pachin & Hinduja, 2011), the Psychological Needs Satisfaction Scale (Lagardia et al. 2000) and the Self-Compassion Scale (Nephi, 2003). The results were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis with Enter method. The results showed that self-compassion has a negative and significant relationship with bullying. Among the basic psychological needs, communication with others and autonomy have a significant negative relationship with bullying. However, there was no significant relationship between competence and bullying. Self-compassion, communication with others, and autonomy significantly predict bullying in students. Based on the findings of the present study, it is suggested that psychological and educational interventions based on promoting self-compassion and satisfying basic psychological needs be conducted to reduce bullying in students.