Role of Self-Acceptance in Reducing Mental Health Distresses among Young Female Adults

Abstract

Mental health distresses like depression, anxiety and stress have been on the rise among young female adults (Dülger & Ayaz-Alkaya, 2025). To reduce the mental health issues, Self-acceptance is one aspect of psychological well-being identified by Ryff (1989) that could protect one against mental health distress. The current research aimed to study the relationship of self-acceptance with mental health distress i.e. depression, anxiety and stress among young female’s adults. A correlational-regression research design was used and data of 72 young female participants from the age group of 18-25 years of age was collected using standardized self-report scales. Descriptive statistics reflected participants had self-acceptance on moderate level. The data was not normally distributed; therefore, Spearman’s rho correlation analysis was used for the further analysis. After the regression, a significant negative correlation between self-acceptance and depression (ρ = −0.494, p < .001), anxiety (ρ = −0.391, p < .001), stress (ρ = −0.369, p = .001), and overall mental health distress (ρ = −0.488, p < .001). Thus, the results showed that self-acceptance was negatively related to mental health distress. This means that as self-acceptance increased, levels of depression, anxiety, and stress decreased. In simple terms, young women who accepted themselves more experienced less emotional distress. Overall, the results suggest that self-acceptance plays an important role in reducing mental health distress among young female adults. Improving self-acceptance may help lower depression, anxiety, and stress and support better mental health. Therefore, self-acceptance interventions need to be enhanced to reduce psychological distress among young female adults.