Envious Behavior among University Students: Role of Personality Traits and Self-Compassion

Abstract

Being envious of others is one trait that can affect better social relations and affect an individual capacity to muddle through life stresses with a positive approach. The current research investigated the predictive effects of independent variables (IV), e.g., personality traits and self-compassion, on the dependent variable (DV) envious behavior among university students of Pakistan. Students from different Government and Private Universities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi were taken. Two hundred students were included (Male= 100, Female= 100) between the age range of 16-40. Three scales employed on 200 students were Big five inventory (BFI) (John & Srivastava, 1999), Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) (Neff, 2003), and The Dispositional Envious behavior Scale (Smith et al., 1999) in the present study to assess personality traits, self-compassion, and envious behavior among university students of Pakistan. Results of the present study revealed that extroversion, agreeableness is positively related to envious behavior. The result showed that conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness negatively correlated with envious behavior. The self-judgment, common humanity, self-kindness, mindfulness isolation, and over-identification positively related to envious behavior. Gender differences in the table highlighted that females are higher on neuroticism and self-kindness than male students. Male are higher on openness and envious behavior as compared to female students. Regression table showed that extraversion (β = .29, p< .01) positively predicted envious behavior. Openness negatively (β = -.27, p< .01) predicted and explained 8.9 % variance in envious behavior. Regression analysis showed that self-judgment (β = .18, p< .01), and over-identification (β = 6.54, p< .001) positively predicted envious behavior. Mindfulness (β = -.16, p= .01) negatively predicted envious behavior, and the value of R² explained 30 % variance in envious behavior. The results of the study are discussed with cultural reference.

Headnote

Abstract

Being envious of others is one trait that can affect better social relations and affect an individual capacity to muddle through life stresses with a positive approach. The current research investigated the predictive effects of independent variables (IV), e.g., personality traits and self-compassion, on the dependent variable (DV) envious behavior among university students of Pakistan. Students from different Government and Private Universities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi were taken. Two hundred students were included (Male= 100, Female= 100) between the age range of 16-40. Three scales employed on 200 students were Big five inventory (BFI) (John & Srivastava, 1999), Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) (Neff, 2003), and The Dispositional Envious behavior Scale (Smith et al., 1999) in the present study to assess personality traits, self-compassion, and envious behavior among university students of Pakistan. Results of the present study revealed that extroversion, agreeableness is positively related to envious behavior. The result showed that conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness negatively correlated with envious behavior. The self-judgment, common humanity, self-kindness, mindfulness isolation, and over-identification positively related to envious behavior. Gender differences in the table highlighted that females are higher on neuroticism and self-kindness than male students. Male are higher on openness and envious behavior as compared to female students. Regression table showed that extraversion (β = .29, p< .01) positively predicted envious behavior. Openness negatively (β = -.27, p< .01) predicted and explained 8.9 % variance in envious behavior. Regression analysis showed that self-judgment (β = .18, p< .01), and over-identification (β = 6.54, p< .001) positively predicted envious behavior. Mindfulness (β = -.16, p= .01) negatively predicted envious behavior, and the value of R² explained 30 % variance in envious behavior. The results of the study are discussed with cultural reference.

Keywords: Personality traits, Big-five, isolation, humanity, self-judgment, self-kindness, mindfulness, envious behavior

Introduction

An individual is expected to deal with diverse life stressors in an effective manner. Feeling of disarray, sympathy, and jealousy appear to subsequently leave adolescents with sentiments of segregation and envious behavior in social relationships. Personality traits play a significant role in the overall adjustment of an individual, developing healthy social relations, and also enhances personal wellbeing. Family environment and peer interaction also affect the level of self-compassion and envious behavior. Selfcompassion is an obvious trait that enables any individual to move forward and prosper in his/her life. A grandiose sense of self-compassion leads to envious behavior towards one-self and others that affects social relationships.

Big Five Personality Factor Model- NEO-PI-R (Costa & McCrae, 1992) suggests that personality is subdivided into five dimensions, with each dimension laying between the two boundaries of different estimation. Neuroticism contrasts components of passionate solidness with those of negative emotionality. Extraversion proposes a vigorous way to deal with the world rather than a disconnected approach. Openness examines a person's openness to experiences and individuals in this estimation are more inventive and prepared to express and understand their emotions (Hergenhahn & Olson, 1999). Cattell (1973) brought up the theoretical concept that traits nocannot be measured just by verbal report and behavior in the research domain.

Self-compassion includes agony feelings combined with a profound yearning to reduce that misery (Mwanje, 2018; Goetz, Keltner, & Simon-Thomas, 2010). Selfcompassion is just empathy coordinated with internal feelings that a person holds within, an objective feeling of consideration and concern when confronted with the experience of anguish (Neff, 2003). At the point when confronted with troubles in life, a few individuals get knocked off with disappointments, misery, and nervousness while responding maladaptive to offensive circumstances, for example, ruminating about the circumstance, reprimanding for their shortcomings, and catastrophizing, which just prompts worsening of their pain (Leary, Tate, Adams, Allen, & Hancock, 2007). Selfcompassion is a model of self-perspectives that has been determined by Neff (2003). Self-compassion is accepted to assume to hold a strong function that helps in dealing with life's dilemma. Recently, western researches' have started considering the relation of self-compassion with different constructs. Self-compassion serves as an imperative commitment to passionate prosperity and life happiness (Bluth & Neff, 2018). Selfcompassion develops a positive frame of mind with enjoyment and positive thinking that prompts general better alteration, prosperity, and thriving (Reizer, 2019).

Envious behavior is based on negative emotion in which the individual develops the feeling of worthlessness in comparison to the individual with a superior personality (Crusius & Lange, 2017; DeWall et al., 2014). These emotions also include failure in social evaluation, social comparison; individuals high on envious behavior may feel deprived of all life luxuries and feel jealous of others in fame and position (Jones & Paulhus, 2017; Smith & Kim, 2007). Shalev and Morwitz (2012) envious behavior is the emotional and behavioral strategy of a person that focuses on getting things that person wants to diminish jealous emotions. Envious behavior comprises feelings of begrudging, an excruciating feeling that frequently originates from needing something that someone else has (Hill, DelPriore, & Vaughan, 2011). Envious behavior is negative behavior that is not attractive; one that isn't charming for the desirous individual (Jones & Paulhus, 2017; Tai, Narayanan, & McAllister, 2012; van deVen, 2009).

Different researches have been conducted on personality traits, self-compassion, and envious behavior, and other distinct variables. Fabioa and Saklofske (2021) revealed that trait emotional intelligence (EI) brings about variance in personality traits, compassion, and self-compassion. EI also mediates in the relationship between personality traits, compassion, and self-compassion. Samuel (2011) concluded that emotional intelligence mediated the relationship of neuroticism and extraversion with mental prosperity yet not between openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness and mental prosperity. Self-compassion plays a crucial role in developing better well-being (Lopez, Sanderman, Ranchor, & Schroevers, 2018) and promoting pro-social behaviors in social gatherings (Marshall, Ciarrochi, Parker, & Sahdra, 2019). A longitudinal study (Eldor, 2018) carried out on self-compassion among employees that received more selfcompassion (e.g., love, kindness, care, tenderness) from their manager, those employees displayed a higher level of service-oriented performance and more sympathetic attitude towards their customers, supporting the idea that high level of self-compassion improves overall organization productivity (Y ang, Guo, Kou, & Liu, 2019).

Another study by (Amirazodi & Amirazodi, 2011) concluded that extraversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness, and agreeableness were notable positive predictors of self-esteem, and neuroticism was a notable negative predictor of selfesteem. Neff et al. (2005) inspected the connection between self-compassion and academic achievement among undergrads. Self-compassion was connected with dominance, which includes the delight of learning for one's purpose and adversely connected with execution objectives, including protecting or improving one's feeling of self-esteem through scholarly achievements. Self-compassionate undergrads displayed more versatile methods for adapting to disappointment. A research study by (Neff, Rude, & Kirkpatrick, 2007) revealed that self-compassion had a significant positive relationship with conscientiousness, agreeableness, and extroversion has a negative relationship with neuroticism. Another study found that unwillingness to take responsibility, lack of self-confidence, interpersonal problem solving had a negative relation with extraversion, openness to experiences (Sancaoǧlu & Arslan, 2013) agreeableness, self-compassion, and responsibility (Bacanl, İlhan, & Arslan, 2009; Chamorro-Premuzic, 2008). Constructive problem solving had a positive relation with extraversion, openness to experiences, self-compassion, responsibility, and agreeableness (Arslan, 2016).

Gottheim (2009) showed a positive relationship between aggression and selfesteem and self-compassion had a weak link with aggression. Moreover a more elevated level of self-compassion anticipated a lower level of aggressive behavior (Runyan et al., 2019). Smith and Kim (2007) have connected envious behavior to counterproductive work practices that incorporate undermine the adversary's work, manipulating a contender, and annoying or shunning the opponent. Regarding the envious behavior, counterproductive work practices can be an endeavor to kill or decrease the anguish of evaluation. Cohen-Charash(2009) stated that episodic envious behavior is not the same as shamefulness, adoration, and rivalry. The envious behavior is firmly associated with negative passionate responses (nervousness, discouragement, negative state of mind, threatening vibe) and behavioral responses (e.g., hurting the other, making a negative work environment). Inferiority is the major reason behind envy pain, which can increase depression, along with indirect aggression (Zitek & Jordan, 2016). The malicious envy can lead to machiavellian tactics such as planned deception (Leckelt, Kufner, Nestler, & Back, 2015), damage individual morale (Khan, Quratulain, & Bell, 2014), disparaging rumors (Lange et al., 2016), and lastly impulsivity (Shoham, Gavish, & Segev, 2015).

Personality traits have been emerged to be a predictor of numerous variables including schooling, earning, career promotion, employment factors, and academic achievements (Hakimi, Hejazi, & Lavasani, 2011; Kai-Wen, 2011; Lee & Ohtake, 2012). Mehboob (2014) highlighted that rumination had a positive association with anxiety. Though self-compassion had no association with anxiety. Further, it was discovered both rumination and self-compassion, independently were not strongly linked with each other. Besides, detailed examination demonstrated that ladies living in asylums on account of abusive behavior at home ruminated more when contrasted with the individuals living there in light of different reasons. Ahmed and Bhutto (2016) showed non-significant attachment styles (authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive) with self-compassion. The predictive effect showed that permissive parenting styles significantly affected self-compassion and isolation. Research conducted by Ali and Ijaz (2014) demonstrated a positive relationship between self-viability, personality traits, and occupation execution of police officers. Khan, Quratulain, and Bell (2014) found a negative relation between envious behavior and counterproductive work behavior. Prior research showed that neuroticism was associated with negative emotions such as anxiety, anger, and envious behavior (Bazelli, Hindle, & Stroulia, 2013). Researchers have identified that envy is characteristic of the dark triad of personality, which have both constructive and destructive functions depending on the functional value of envy. Malicious envy is linked with psychopathic behaviors and antisocial behavior in the workplace (Lange, Paulhus, & Crusius, 2018).

Rationale of the Study

The previous Western and indigenous literature review has shown that there are scarce researches which have been carried out on study variables among university students. As personality traits have been studied but with other variables such as mental prosperity of young people Samuel (2011), learning styles of mathematics, architecture, and fine arts students (Zonash & Naqvi, 2011), ego resiliency among amputated soldiers (Zeb, Naqvi, & Zonash, 2013), self-esteem (Amirazodi & Amirazodi, 2011). Similarly, self-compassion has been studied in western culture with different variables such as self-compassion, self-esteem, scholastic accomplishment (Neff et al., 2005), narcissism, and aggression (Gottheim, 2009). Lastly, western and indigenous researches have shown that envious behavior has been studied with the variables like envious behavior and counterproductive work practices (Khan et al., 2014) and personality variables (Bazelli et al., 2013). But none of the research has explored the regression effect of personality traits and self-compassion on envious behavior among university students. For that the study aimed at exploring the relationship between personality traits, self-compassion, and envious behavior. Further, the study also aimed at exploring the effect of social characteristics e.g., age, education, family structure, and birth order that have on psychological study variables that are under exploration in the current study.

Significance

The present study will help the psychologist, educational specialist, teachers, and student counseling department to highlight the issues that students experience in light of study variables. The present study will help to fill up the gap between indigenous works of literature for the present study variables. The research can be used by educational psychologists, vocational psychologists, and counsellors to establish intervention plans for the betterment of students.

Statement of the Problem

To explore the predictive effects of personality traits and self-compassion on envious behavior among university students.

Procedure of the Study

Research Design. Quantitative cross-sectional research method protocols were followed during the study procedure. The study sample was collected from different universities located in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. After, receiving the ethical and procedural permission from the concerned university official. Students were approached individually during their university timings. They were informed concerning the idea of the research being done and about their assent and participation, which was a critical factor in the current study. A demographic sheet along with three questionnaires was given to them. They were asked to fill the questionnaires fairly and were guaranteed that the gathered data will be kept for research purposes. The members were required to peruse and respond to everything by rating how much they feel the statement mirrors their present perspective of themselves, as there was no correct and right response for particular statements. Participation was voluntary, the information gathered was dealt with under states of secrecy and obscurity and it was elucidated that the results would just be used for research study purposes. They were acknowledged for their time, trustworthiness, and ability to help with this study.

Population. Sample of the study consisted of 200 university students comprising males («=100) and females («=100) selected from different universities, i.e., International Islamic University, Islamabad («=120, 60%), Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad («=80, 40%). The sample was selected through a convenient sampling technique. The ages of these students ranged from 16 to 40 years. Their minimum educational level was from Graduation to Ph.D. Further, they belonged to various disciplines of studies.

Research Instruments. The study comprised of three instruments. The first scale, The Big Five Inventory (BFI) originally by (John & Srivastava, 1999). The scale is a self-report measure that intends to assess the Big Five dimensions. The BFI consists of 44 items that are subdivided into five trait dimensions of personality - agreeableness (9 items), openness to experience (9 items), extraversion (8 items), neuroticism (8 items), and conscientiousness (9 items). The scale is a 5-point Likert scale ranging from (1 = 'strongly disagree' to 5 = 'strongly agree). Besides, a high score on any personality traits reflects the high level of existence of that trait.

Self-Compassion among students was measured with the Self Compassion Scale by (Neff, 2003) and it consists of 12 items. Responses are measured by using a five-point Likert scale (almost«ever=1 to almost always=5). The alpha reliability of SCS.SR was 0.86. The subscales of the scale are as follows: Self-Judgment (11, 12), Self-kindness (2, 6) Mindfulness (3, 7), Common Humanity (5, 10), Over-identified (1, 9), and Isolation (4, 8).

The Dispositional Envious Behavior Scale was developed by (Smith et al., 1999). It consists of 8 items that are scored on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). It is used to measure different tendencies of individuals towards envious behavior. A high score on the scale reflects the higher level of envious behavior among the students. The alpha ranged from (a= .83 to .86).

Data Analysis and Interpretation

For the present study, the result was carried out using SPSS-21 on the total population of 200 university students. For the current research, the correlation between the study variables was determined using Pearson correlation (See Table 1 and Table 2). The gender differences (See Table 3) and family structure differences (See Table 4) were determined using the Independent sample T-Test (See Table 3).To determine the predictive effect of personality traits and self-compassion on envious behavior the multiple and linear regression was computed (See Table 5-7).

Objective: To determine the relationship between personality traits and envious behavior among university students.

Hypothesis (H1): Personality traits, e.g., extroversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness negatively correlated with envious behavior, whereas neuroticism positively correlated with envious behavior.

The table shows a correlation matrix between personality traits and envious behavior among university students. Extroversion is positively related to envious behavior. The table shows that conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness negatively correlated with envious behavior. The table showed that a significant correlation exists between the study variables and their subscales.

Objective: To determine the relationship between self-compassion and envious behavior.

Hypothesis (Hi): Self-compassion negatively correlated with envious behavior among university students.

The table shows a significant relationship exists between the study variables and their subscales. Self-judgment, self-kindness, common humanity, mindfulness, overidentification, and isolation have a significant positive relation with envious behavior among university students.

Objective: To determine gender vise differences on sub-dimensions of personality traits, self-compassion, and envious behavior.

Hypothesis (Hi)i: Male students would be higher on extraversion and openness, whereas female students would be higher on neuroticism.

Hypothesis (Hi)2: Female students would score higher on self-compassion dimensions as compared to male students.

Hypothesis (Hi)3: Male students would score higher on envious behavior than female students.

Gender differences in the table highlighted that females are higher on neuroticism as compared to male students. Male are higher on openness in comparison to female students. Female students scored more on self-kindness in comparison to male students. Male students are higher on common humanity and envious behavior as compared to female students.

Objective: To determine family structure differences in personality traits, self-compassion, and envious behavior.

Hypothesis (Hi): Students from the joint family structure would be higher on extraversion and openness, agreeableness, whereas female students would be higher on neuroticism and conscientiousness.

Hypothesis (Hi)i: Students from the nuclear family structure would score higher on envious behavior as compared to students from joint family structure.

Family structure differences were highlighted in Table 4. The mean differences showed that students from the joint family were higher on extroversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. There was no meaningful difference in selfcompassion and envious behavior among students of both family structures.

Objective: To determine the predictive effect of personality traits on envious behavior among university students.

Hypothesis (Hi): Extroversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness will negatively predict envious behavior, whereas neuroticism will positively predict envious behavior.

As shown in table 5 extroversion, agreeableness positively predicted envious behavior among students. Regression table showed that extraversion (ß = -.29, p< .01), negatively predicted envious behavior. Openness negatively predicted (ß = -.27, p< .01) envious behavior. The value of R2 showed that extraversion and openness (independent variables) explained a total of 8.9 % variance in envious behavior (dependent variable).

Objective: To determine the predictive effect of self-compassion on envious behavior among university students.

Hypothesis (Hi): Self-compassion negatively predicted envious behavior among university students.

As shown in table 6 over-identification, self-judgment, isolation, and common humanity, positively predicted envious behavior among students. The subscales of mindfulness, self-kindness negatively predicted envious behavior among university students. Regression analysis showed that self-judgment (ß = .18, p< .01), and overidentification (ß = 6.54, p< .001) positively predicted envious behavior. The regression table showed that mindfulness (ß = -.16, p= .01) negatively predicted envious behavior among university students. The value of R2 showed that self-judgment, overidentification, and mindfulness explained a 30.0 % variance in envious behavior.

Objective: To determine the effect of personality traits on self-compassion among university students.

Regression effect was tested to explore the predictive effect of personality traits on self-compassion. The multiple regression analysis revealed that conscientiousness positively predicted self-kindness (ß = .20, p< .01, 6.8% variance), common humanity (ß = .31, p< .001, 14.3% variance). Neuroticism positively predicted isolation (ß = .27, p< .01, 7.4% variance). Agreeableness negatively (ß = -.17, p< .05) whereas, conscientiousness positively predicted mindfulness (ß = .20, p< .01, total of 8.1 % variance).

Discussion

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relation and predictive effect of personality traits and self-compassion on envious behavior among students of different universities. According to the theoretical perspective, different personality traits and self-compassion components tend to increase or decrease the level of envious behavior. The present research results supported the idea that there is a significant association between the research variables of personality traits, self-compassion, and envious behavior.

The first hypothesis "extroversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness negatively predicted envious behavior" of the study was supported by the results of the study. Extroversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, were negative predictors of envious behavior. Results in the regression table identified that extraversion positively predicted envious behavior whereas openness negatively predicted envious behavior (See Table 5). The second hypothesis of the study "neuroticism positively predicted envious behavior" was also supported by study results. The result of the study showed that neuroticism negatively predicted envious behavior (See Table 5). There are inadequate numbers of studies that have explored the predictive impact of personality trait dimensions on envious behavior in indigenous culture. The result of the study has been supported by previous western researches that have indicated that negative emotions like envious behavior are significant elements that are linked to specific personality dimensions (Lange et al., 2018; Jones & Paulhus, 2017) but in literature review envious behavior is variables that are linked with other socio-cultural factors (Cabrales, 2010; Hill & Buss, 2006; Takahashi, Kato, Matsuura, Mobbs, Suhara, & Okubo, 2009) then specific personality dimensions. Strong envious behavior leads to more negative emotions with the person that is being envied (Kim, O'Neill & Cho, 2010). Numbers of researches have shown that neuroticism is linked with a dark personality triad, negative emotions such as anxiety, anger, and envious behavior (Leckelt et al., 2015; Bazelli, Hindle, & Stroulia, 2013).

The third hypothesis of the study 'self-compassion negatively predicted envious behavior' was also supported in the present study (See Table 6). Common humanity, self-kindness, self-judgment, over-identification, isolation, mindfulness have a significant positive correlation with envious behavior. Self-judgment and overidentification positively predicted envious behavior and mindfulness negatively predicted envious behavior. Current results are consistent with previous study findings that self-compassion is strongly linked with envious behavior ( Bhagat, Haque, Simbak, & Jaalam, 2016; Fitzsimons, 2013; Neff et al., 2007; Shu & Lazatkhan, 2017; Thurackal, Corveleyn, & Dezutter, 2016). Personality effects on self-compassion showed interesting findings that conscientiousness positively predicted self-kindness, common humanity Neuroticism positively predicted isolation (Reizer, 2019). Agreeableness negatively whereas, conscientiousness positively predicted mindfulness, research by (Neff et al., 2007) showed similar results that self-compassion had a significant association with extroversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness selfcompassion has a negative association with neuroticism (Runyan et al., 2019). Another study by (Yang et al., 2019) found a negative link between family conflicts, negative coping strategies, low self-esteem, and poor problem-solving strategy with selfcompassion, and extraversión (Sancaoǧlu & Arslan, 2013) agreeableness, openness to experiences, and responsibility (Bacan, İlhan, & Arslan, 2009; Chamorro-Premuzic, 2008). Constructive problem solving had a positive relation with extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experiences, responsibility, and self-compassion (Peiro, Bayonab, Caballer, & Di Fabio, 2020; Vesely-Maillefer & Saklofske, 2018; Arslan, 2016). The non-significant results of the study can be attributed to differences in the diversity of personality dimensions. As each individual has different personality characteristics, the differences in personality in a different environment can show diversity in its expression. Non-significant results can be attributed to the non-serious response of the respondents on the personality scales as the reliability of the personality scale is also comparatively low.

Regarding other objectives, the current research also attempted to explore the mean effect of gender and family structure on personality traits, self-compassion, and envious behavior. The present study showed that females are higher on neuroticism as compared to male students. These findings replicate previous findings that females have more anxious personality features, have more concerns, feel stressed easily, and have apprehensive feelings that lead to more inclination to develop neuroticism (Costa, Terracciano, & McCrae, 2001; Weisberg, DeYoung, & Hirsh, 2011). Male scored more on openness in comparison to female students. Female student's scores are higher on self-kindness as concerning male students. Male students are higher on envious behavior and common humanity as in contrast to female students (See Table 3). A systematic review of multiple types of research have shown that the gender differences are related to negative emotions (e.g., neuroticism, nervousness, gloominess, cogitation) (Bleidorn et al,. 2015) this idea is supported by multiple meta-analyses (Johnson & Whisman, 2013), and cross-cultural studies surveys (De Bolle et al., 2015; Hopcroft & McLaughlin, 2012). Another study (Hyde, 2014) identified gender differences in personality across multiple variables like friendliness, seeking sensation, level of aggression, social isolation v/s social gathering, and sexual behaviors (ConroyBeam, Buss, Pham, & Shackelford, 2015). Some researchers identified that gender differences across gender are also visible across negative affectivity, meticulousness, sociability, reward compassion, and self-confidence (Bhagat et al., 2016; Zell, Krizan, & Teeter, 2015). Current outcomes are consistent with previous study findings. Family structure differences on a t-test revealed that the mean differences showed that joint family structure students were higher on extroversion and neuroticism. There were no mean differences in self-compassion and envious behavior among students of both joint and nuclear family structures (See Table 4). The student of joint family structure tends to exhibit more envious behavior. However, the findings have shown interesting findings, student of both family structure have self-compassion as well as envious behavior as multiple types of research have shown that high level of self-compassion tends to lead to envious behavior (Johnson & Whisman, 2013) due to self-consumption. Indicting that despite family structure differences other variables are at play when the individual has a high level of self-compassion, similarly, individual personality and attachment styles determine the level of envious behavior in individuals in comparison to family structure. As individual personal preferences, nature plays a significant role in determining the level of compassion and jealousy.

Limitations and recommendations

The effort was made to make the research flawlessness as possible but under different circumstances, there is dependably opportunity to get better. Thus following limitations have been recommended by the researcher. Monetary and time assets kept the utilization of a large sample. The present study sample was small and therefore generalizations of the outcomes should be deliberately addressed. The study sample was gathered only from the two cities Rawalpindi and Islamabad that limited the research zone. Hence future examinations might have profited from the investigation of a more extensive scope of the young populace from various districts of Pakistan. The current study offers fascinating outcomes that widen our comprehension and expand information regarding the study variables. For that, longitudinal study and follow-up study can be conducted. A longitudinal study can give solid evidence of the relationship directions that develop between dimensions of personality trait, self-compassion, and envious behavior among students.

Conclusion

The current examination was intended to explore the effect of personality traits and self-compassion on envious behavior among university students. The desired sample of a total of 200 university students was recruited from the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Three standardized questionnaires comprising of Big Five Inventory (John, O & Srivastava, S., 1999), Self-Compassion Scale -Short Form (Neff, 2003), and Dispositional Envious behavior Scale by (Smith et al., 1999) were availed for measuring research variables. The study findings have reasoned that a significant correlation exists between the study variables and their subscales. Extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness have a significant positive correlation with each other. Extroversion and agreeableness have a positive correlation with selfcompassion but a negative correlation with envious behavior. The current study has identified that different personality features of personality can increase the envious and negative behavior of the students in students. The high feeling of compassion can minimize the risk of developing psychopathic tendencies among the students and also enhances the individual performance of the students depending on their motivational level. The study has highlighted the significance of study variables in Pakistani population, as the western students tend to share different environmental conditions as well as values and norms. In comparison the religious beliefs, family environment, and interpersonal/intrapersonal influences tends to shape individual perception regarding feeling of ecstasy and jealousy. Similarly the understanding of students regarding their personality is quite different from international students, as the major emphasis of the western culture is concept of (being), however collectivist cultures can shape individual perception their personality (as combination of individuals beings).

References

References

Ahmed, N., & Bhutto, H. Z. (2016). Relationship between parenting styles and selfcompassion in young adults. Pakistan Journal of Psychological Research, 31(2), 441-451.

Amirazodi, F., & Amirazodi, M. (2011). Personality traits and self-esteem. ProcediaSocial and Behavioral Sciences, 29, 713-716.

Arslan, C. (2016). Interpersonal problem solving, self-compassion and personality traits in university students. Educational Research and Reviews, 11(7), 474-481. Doi: 10.5897/ERR2015.2605.

Bacan, H., İlhan, T., & Arslan, S. (2009). Development of a personality scale based on five factor theory: adjective based personality test (ABPT). Journal of Turkey and Educational Sciences, 7(2), 261-279.

Bazelli, B., Hindle, A., & Stroulia, E. (2013). On the personality traits of stackoverflow users. Paper presented at the Software maintenance (ICSM), 2013 29th IEEE international Conference.

Bhagat, V., Haque, M., Simbak, N. B., & Jaalam, K. (2016). Study on personality dimension negative emotionality affecting academic achievement among Malaysian medical students studying in Malaysia and overseas. Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 7, 341-252.

Bleidorn, W., Arslan, R. C., Denissen, J. J. A., Rentfrow, P. J., Gebauer, J. E., Potter, J., & Gosling, S. D. (2015, December 21). Age and gender differences in selfesteem-A crosscultural window. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. 10.1037/pspp0000078

Bluth, K., & Neff, K. D. (2018). New frontiers in understanding the benefits of selfcompassion. Self and Identity, 17(6), 605-608.

Cattell, R. B. (1973). Personality and mood by questionnaire. New York: Jossey Bass.

Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2008). Personality and individual differences. Blackwell Publishing.

Conroy-Beam, D., Buss, D. M., Pham, M. N., & Shackelford, T. K. (2015). How sexually dimorphic are human mate preferences? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41, 1082-1093.

Costa Jr, P. T., Terracciano, A., & McCrae, R. R. (2001). Gender differences in personality traits across cultures: robust and surprising findings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(2), 322-331. doi: 10.1037/00223514.81.2.322.

Crusius, J., & Lange, J. (2017). How do people respond to threatened social status? Moderators of benign versus malicious envy. In R. H. Smith, U. Merlone, & M. K. Duffy (Eds.), Envy at work and in organizations: Research, theory, and applications (pp. 85-110). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

De Bolle, M., De Fruyt, F., McCrae, R. R., Lokenhoff C. E., Costa, P. T., Jr., AguilarVafaie, M. E., Terracciano, A. (2015). The emergence of sex differences in personality traits in early adolescence: A cross-sectional, cross-cultural study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108, 171-185.

DeWall, C. N., Gillath, O., Pressman, S. D., Black, L. L., Bartz, J. A., Moskovitz, J., &Stetler, D. A. (2014). When the love hormone leads to violence Oxytocin increases intimate partner violence inclinations among high trait aggressive people. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 1948550613516876.

Eldor, L. (2018). Public service sector: The compassionate workplace-The effect of compassion and stress on employee engagement, burnout, and performance. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 28(1), 86-103.

Fabioa, Di A., & Saklofske, HD. (2021). The relationship of compassion and selfcompassion with personality and emotional intelligence. Personality and Individual Differences, 169, 110109, 1-9.

Fitzsimons, P. (2013). A study examining the possible relationships between materialism, neuroticism. gratitude and life satisfaction. [Unpublished BA Thesis]. Dublin Business School.

Hakimi, S., Hejazi, E., & Lavasani, M. G. (2011). The relationships between personality traits and students' academic achievement. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 29, 836-845.

Hopcroft, R. L., & McLaughlin, J. (2012).Why is the sex gap in feelings of depression wider in high gender equity countries? The effect of children on the psychological well-being of men and women. Social Science Research, 41, 501-513.

Johnson, D. P., & Whisman, M. A. (2013). Gender differences in rumination: A metaanalysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 55, 367-374.

Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2017). Duplicity among the Dark Triad: Three faces of deceit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113, 329-342. Doi: 10.1037/pspp0000139.

Kai-Wen, C. (2011). A Study on Relationship between Personality Traits and Employment Factors of College Students. Journal of Case Studies in Education, 4, 1-9.

Khan, K. A., Quratulain, S., & Bell, M. C. (2014). Envious behavior and counterproductive work behaviors: Is more justice always preferred? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(1), 128-144.

Lange, J., Crusius, J., & Hagemeyer, B. (2016). The Evil Queen's dilemma: Linking narcissistic admiration and rivalry to benign and malicious envy. European Journal of Personality, 30, 168-188. Doi:10.1002/per.2047.

Lange, J., Paulhus, L. D., & Crusius, J. (2018). Elucidating the dark side of envy: distinctive links of benign and malicious envy with dark personalities. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44(4), 601-614. Doi: 10.1177/0146167217746340.

Leary, M.R., Tate, E.B., Adams, C.E., Allen, A. B., & Hancock, J. (2007). Selfcompassion and reactions to unpleasant self-relevant events: The implications of treating oneself kindly. Journal of Personality Social Psychology, 92,887904.

Leckelt, M., Kufner, A. C. P., Nestler, S., & Back, M. D. (2015). Behavioral processes underlying the decline of narcissists' popularity over time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109, 856-871. Doi: 10.1037/pspp0000057.

Lee, S., & Ohtake, F. (2012). The effect of personality traits and behavioral characteristics on schooling, earnings and career promotion. Journal of Behavioral Economics and Finance, 5, 231-238.

Lopez, A., Sanderman, R., Ranchor, A. V., & Schroevers, M. J. (2018). Compassion for others and self-compassion: Levels, correlates, and relationship with psychological well-being. Mindfulness, 9(1), 325-331.

Marshall, S. L., Ciarrochi, J., Parker, P. D., & Sahdra, B. K. (2019). Is self-compassion selfish? The development of self-compassion, empathy, and prosocial behavior in adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence. https://doi.org/10.1111/iora.12492.

McCrae, R. R., & Costa P. T. (2003). Personality in adulthood. (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.

McCrae, R. R., Costa, P.T., & Piedmont, R. L. (1993). Folk concepts, natural language, and psychological constructs: the California psychological inventory and the five-factor model. Journal of Personality, 61, 1-26.

Mehboob, T. (2014). Rumination, self-compassion and stress in women living in shelter homes. Psychological Abstracts. Institute of Applied Psychology University of the Punjab Lahore-Pakistan.

Mwanje, S. P. (2018). Organisational compassion, happiness at work and employee engagement in selected HIV/AIDS programme focused organisations. Doctoral dissertationMakerere university business school Institutional repository.

Neff, K. D. (2003). Development and validation of a scale to measure self-compassion. Self and Identity, 2, 223-250.

Neff, K. D., & Germer, C. K. (2012). A pilot study and randomized controlled trial of the mindful self-compassion program. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 69(1), 28-44. doi: 10.1002/jclp.21923

Neff, K. D., Rude, S. S., & Kirkpatrick, K. L. (2007). An examination of selfcompassion in relation to positive psychological functioning and personality traits. Journal of Research in Personality, 41(4), 908-916.

Peiro, J. M., Bayonab, J. A., Caballer, A., & Di Fabio, A. (2020). Importance of work characteristics affects job performance: The mediating role of individual dispositions on the work design-performance relationships. PAID 40th anniversary special issue. Personality and individual differences (pp. 157). https://doi.org/10.1016/i.paid.2019.109808

Raes, F., Pommier, E., Neff, K. D., & Van Gucht, D. (2011). Construction and factorial validation of a short form of the Self-Compassion Scale. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy. 18, 250-255.

Reizer, A. (2019). Bringing self-kindness into the workplace: Exploring the mediating role of self-compassion in the associations between attachment and organizational outcomes. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. https://doi.om/10.3389/fpsvg.2019.01148

Runyan, J. D., Fry, B. N., Steenbergh, T. A., Arbuckle, N. L., Dunbar, K., & Devers, E. E.(2019). Using experience sampling to examine links between compassion, eudaimonia, and pro-social behavior. Journal of Personality, 87(3), 690-701.

Samuel, S. (2011). Personality and psychological well-being of adolescents: the moderating role of emotional intelligence. Social Behavior and Personality, 39(6), 785-794.

Saricaoǧlu, H., & Arslan, C. (2013). An Investigation into psychological wellbeing levels of higher education students with respect to personality traits and selfcompassion. Educational Science and Theory Practice, 13(4), 2097- 2104.

Shoham, A., Gavish, Y., & Segev, S. (2015). A cross-cultural analysis of impulsive and compulsive buying behaviors among Israeli and U.S. consumers: The influence of personal traits and cultural values. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 27, 187-206. doi:10.1080/08961530.2014.1000507

Shu, C.-Y., & Lazatkhan, J. (2017). Effect of leader-member exchange on employee envious behavior and work behavior moderated by self-esteem and neuroticism. Revista de Psicología del Trabajo y de las Organizaciones, 33(1), 69-81.

Smith, R. H., & Kim, S. H. (2007). Comprehending Envious behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 133 (1), 46-64.

Smith, R. H., Parrott, W. G., Diener, E. F., Hoyle, R. H., & Kim, S. H. (1999). Dispositional envious behavior scale. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 10-11.

Thurackal, J. T., Corveleyn, J., & Dezutter, J. (2016). Personality and self-compassion: exploring their relationship in an indian context. European Journal of Mental Health, 11(1),18-35.

Vesely-Maillefer, A. K., & Saklofske, D. H. (2018). Emotional intelligence and the next generation of teachers. Emotional intelligence in education (pp. 377-402). Cham:Springer.

Weisberg, Y. J., DeYoung, C. G., & Hirsh, J. B. (2011). Gender differences in personality across the ten aspects of the Big Five. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 178. Doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00178

Yang, Y., Guo, Z., Kou, Y., & Liu, B. (2019). Linking self-compassion and Prosocial behavior in adolescents: The mediating roles of relatedness and trust. Child Indicators Research, 12, 2035-2049.

Zeb, N., Naqvi, I., & Zonash, R. (2013). Personality traits and ego resilience and among soldiers with amputation. Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 23(2), 102-116.

Zell, E., Krizan, Z., & Teeter, S. R. (2015). Evaluating gender similarities and differences using metasynthesis. American Psychologist, 70, 10-20.

Zitek, E. M., & Jordan, A. H. (2016). Narcissism predicts support for hierarchy (at least when narcissists think they can rise to the top). Social Psychological and Personality Science, 7, 707-716. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550616649241

Zonash, R., & Naqvi, I. (2011). Personality traits and learning styles among students of mathematics, architecture and fine arts. Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 21(1), 92-108.