The Effect of Self-Compassion and Psychological Flexibility on Academic Failure Tolerance in High-Achieving High School Students: The Mediating Effect of Self-Criticism

Key Points

• This research aims to uncover psychological mechanisms explaining academic failure tolerance among high-achieving high school students via self-compassion and psychological flexibility.
• Survey conducted with 254 students from specialty high schools in July 2025.
• Utilized self-report questionnaires to gather data.
• Employed PROCESS macro Model 4 for mediation analysis.
• Self-compassion and psychological flexibility significantly predicted lower self-criticism and higher academic failure tolerance.
• Bootstrapping analysis confirmed the mediating effect of self-criticism (95% CI does not include 0).
• Psychological flexibility was a stronger predictor of reducing self-criticism, while self-compassion more strongly predicted increased academic failure tolerance.