Objective: College students may be at heightened risk for suicide and suicidal behavior due to maladaptive cognitive-emotional factors and failure to practice basic health behaviors. However, self-compassion and wellness behaviors may protect against risk. The relation between self-compassion and suicidal behavior and the contributing roles of depressive symptoms and wellness behaviors was examined. Participants: Participants were 365 undergraduate students. Data were collected in April 2015. Methods: A cross-sectional, survey design was employed. Participants completed measures assessing self-compassion, depressive symptoms, wellness behaviors, and suicidal behavior. Serial mediation analyses were conducted covarying age, sex, and ethnicity. Results: Self-compassion was inversely related to suicidal behavior, and this relationship was serially mediated by depressive symptoms and wellness behaviors. Conclusions: Self-compassion may protect against suicidal behavior, in part, due to reduced depressive symptoms and heightened engagement in wellness behaviors. Individual and campus-wide strategies promoting self-compassion and wellness behaviors may reduce suicide risk on college campuses.

The problem with which this study was concerned is that of developing an instrument for predicting the use of accident and health insurance. The purposes of the study were to translate selected theoretical descriptions of wellness into discrete components of behavior, to develop a valid and reliable self-report instrument, and to determine the correlation between wellness behaviors and a person's use of accident and health insurance. Content validity was established by a panel of judges, each of whom was selected on the basis of professional concern for the areas of interest in health contained in the instrument. The original instrument of fifty-five items was increased by three items resulting in a fifty-eight item instrument, which was then approved by each of five judges.

This study was designed to analyze student wellness behaviors. The goal was to provide meaningful discussion regarding which behaviors students at a top ten university are engaging in and how that may contribute to their ability to thrive academically. Variables such as gender, year enrolled, and GPA were analyzed to arrive at recommendations on how students personally interested in maximizing their academic performance and ability to thrive on campus could incorporate behaviors that have been successful for their peers into their daily routines. Student development theory was also a component of this study. Undergraduate and graduate student wellness behaviors were comparatively analyzed to better comprehend wellness behaviors throughout the stages of enrollment. The study was designed to analyze what phase of development, through the lens of self-authorship, students were engaging in an effort to articulate how these top ten university students are "making their own ways." This study found that top ten university students are more positioned to thrive academically and perhaps beyond based on their engagement in wellness behaviors. The study also found that there are relationships among the variables gender, year enrolled, and GPA and specific wellness constructs such that different groups of students require different programmatic options. Based upon these findings, recommendations are offered for the incorporation of various wellness programmatic pieces into a university's academic and extracurricular services. Recommendations for other top ten Universities are offered, as well as ways in which non top ten Universities can innovatively adapt programs to support student wellness development with limited human and financial resources.