Aim and Background: It appears that depressed people have low self-compassion and forgiveness due to having negative attitudes. In order to test this hypothesis, the current study investigated the role of self-compassion and forgiveness in the prediction of depression severity among university students. Methods and Materials: In a correlational study during 2010-11, 136 individuals were randomly selected from all students of Mohaghegh Ardabili University (Ardabil, Iran). The participants filled out depression, self-compassion, and forgiveness questionnaires. The collected data was analyzed using Pearson's correlation test and multiple regression analysis in SPSS 18 . Findings: Self-compassion and forgiveness were negatively correlated with depression. In addition, self-compassion and forgiveness explained 16% and 20% of the variance of depression, respectively. Conclusions: Self-compassion and forgiveness are two positive personality traits that decrease the probability of depression.

Keywords: Personality, Self compassion, Forgiveness, Depression, University students

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