Objective
Despite consistent evidence for the beneficial effects of meditation on mental health, little is known about the mechanisms that make mindfulness meditation effective.
Method
The levels of ...mental health, self‐compassion, presence of meaning in life, and experiential avoidance of meditators (n = 414) and nonmeditators (n = 414) were measured and compared. Bootstrap‐based structural equation modeling (SEM) modeling analyses were used to test multiple‐step multiple‐mediator models.
Results
Meditation was positively associated with mental health, although the regularity of practice was an influential element to be considered. Significant indirect effects of meditation on mental health through self‐compassion, meaning in life, and experiential avoidance were found. SEM models were able to account for 58% of the variance in mental health scores.
Conclusions
Self‐compassion, presence of meaning in life, and reduced experiential avoidance may be active components of healthy meditation practices. Identifying the mechanisms involved in effective meditation practices has relevant implications for well‐being and mental health‐promoting interventions.
This meta-analysis investigated relationships between self-compassion and (1) physical health and (2) health-promoting behaviour in a large pooled sample (N = 29,588) sourced from 94 peer-reviewed ...articles. As hypothesised, omnibus analyses revealed positive associations between self-compassion and both physical health (r = .18) and health behaviour (r = .26). Moderation analyses using 290 effects found that both associations varied according to health domain, participant age, intervention duration, and self-compassion measure. Self-compassion predicted outcomes in most health domains, with the strongest effects observed on global physical health, functional immunity, composite health behaviour, sleep, and danger avoidance. It did not predict frailty, maladaptive bodily routines, and substance abuse. Multi-session interventions designed to boost self-compassion predicted increased physical health and health behaviour, thereby supporting causal links between self-compassion and health outcomes. The effects of single-session inductions were non-significant. The mean effect of self-compassion on physical health was non-significant for young participants (12.00-19.99) and its effect on health behaviour was weakest among older participants (40.00+). Results support the proposition that self-compassion can promote better physical health. Practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Abstract As adolescence can be a stressful developmental stage, the purpose of this study was to determine if a novel mindful self-compassion program would decrease stress, depressive symptoms, and ...anxiety and increase resilience, gratitude, and curiosity/exploration (positive risk-taking), and to ascertain if mindfulness and self-compassion co-varied with these outcomes over time. Forty-seven adolescents in the southeast U.S. enrolled in an 8-week mindful self-compassion course in five cohorts. Measures were assessed at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 6-week follow-up. Multilevel growth analyses revealed main effects of time on perceived stress, resilience, curiosity/exploration and gratitude. Additionally, both mindfulness and self-compassion co-varied with perceived stress and depressive symptoms; mindfulness also co-varied with anxiety and self-compassion co-varied with resilience and curiosity/exploration. Implications of these findings are that this program has potential in decreasing stress and increasing resilience and positive risk-taking. Future studies with a control group need to be conducted to confirm these findings.
Objective
How people relate to themselves when facing distress or failure influences general psychological well‐being and vulnerability to psychological disorders. The aim of the present study was to ...explore the effect of an emotionally evocative intervention on self‐compassion.
Methods
The data were retrieved from a larger study of Emotion‐Focused Therapy (EFT) utilising a multiple baseline design comparing two treatment phases. The baseline phase consisted of 5, 7 or 9 therapy sessions where the therapist solely adhered to Rogerian relational conditions, as prescribed in EFT. A two‐chair dialogue intervention was then added for five sessions. The sample consisted of 18 self‐critical clients with clinically significant symptoms of depression and/or anxiety. The “Self‐Compassion Scale” (SCS) was administered pre, mid and post therapy.
Results
The baseline phase did not lead to significant changes in self‐compassion. However, the addition of the two‐chair dialogue was associated with a significant increase in self‐compassion. This increase was due to reductions in the negative subscales, especially the isolation subscale.
Conclusion
The emotionally evocative two‐chair dialogue was associated with a significant change in self‐to‐self relating, compared to relational conditions alone. The two‐chair dialogue, thus, seems to be a promising intervention for promoting healthier self‐to‐self relating.
The present study used a latent growth curve modeling approach to (a) examine the effectiveness of a brief self-compassion intervention on reducing impostor phenomenon, maladaptive perfectionism, and ...psychological distress and (b) explore who would benefit more from this intervention. A total of 227 college students at a large Midwest university were randomly assigned to participate in either a 4-week brief self-compassion intervention group or a nonintervention control group. Analyses of the effectiveness of the intervention suggested the brief self-compassion intervention had significant treatment effects for reducing impostor phenomenon and maladaptive perfectionism. Moreover, this study also examined whether participants with different levels of fear of self-compassion and core self-evaluation would report different levels of treatment effectiveness. Fear of self-compassion was found to be a significant moderator of the intervention effects in reducing maladaptive perfectionism and psychological distress. Specifically, participants in the intervention group with higher levels of fear of self-compassion reported a greater decline in both maladaptive perfectionism and psychological distress over time when compared to those with lower levels of fear of self-compassion. Core self-evaluation significantly moderated the effectiveness of this intervention in reducing participants' levels of impostor phenomenon and maladaptive perfectionism. Specifically, participants in the intervention group with lower core self-evaluation reported a greater reduction in maladaptive perfectionism over time when compared to those with higher core self-evaluation.
Public Significance Statement
By examining a brief online self-compassion intervention to reduce the levels of impostor phenomenon, this study contributes to improving college students' mental health. Our findings suggested that impostor phenomenon and maladaptive perfectionism have been reduced by the brief self-compassion intervention. This provides an important tool that could be used to tackle a salient mental health issue among the college student population.
Summary
Burgeoning organizational research has begun to explore how self‐compassion or the compassion individuals give to themselves in times of suffering may positively contribute to organizational ...outcomes. This review describes self‐compassion and its theoretical underpinnings in a workplace context, systematically reviews the current empirical literature on self‐compassion using samples of working adults, critically analyzes the current state of the literature, and provides recommendations for robust future research. In the process, we offer a dynamic, process‐based conceptualization of self‐compassion that aligns past research with current directions in organizational compassion and several suggestions for using a processual approach to improve theoretical and empirical rigor. We also guide future scholarly work surrounding self‐compassion in organizations by highlighting fundamental research questions that could advance our theoretical understanding of self‐compassion in organizational contexts.
Perceived social support has consistently been associated with better psychological well-being, but the pathway(s) through which social support increases positive psychological outcomes (e.g., life ...satisfaction) and reduces negative psychological outcomes (e.g., depression) remain unknown. Potentially, social support may encourage a more balanced, self-forgiving, and positive perspective, which may facilitate better well-being. We investigated the extent to which mindfulness, self-compassion, and savoring accounted for the relation between perceived social support and psychological well-being, as assessed by multiple outcome measures, in college students in the U.S. In Study 1 (N = 1024), greater perceived social support was indirectly related to lower levels of negative psychological well-being outcomes (i.e., depression, anxiety, dysfunctional attitudes) through mindfulness. In Study 2 (N = 228), we replicated and extended these findings. Perceived social support was significantly associated with greater mindfulness, self-compassion, savoring, and positive psychological well-being outcomes (i.e., psychological well-being, subjective happiness), as well as lower levels of negative psychological well-being outcomes (i.e., depression, perceived stress). Furthermore, mindfulness, self-compassion, and savoring each accounted for the association between perceived social support and these psychological well-being outcomes. These findings suggest three pathways through which perceived social support may improve psychological well-being.
Background
Previous cross‐sectional studies have examined the relationship between self‐compassion and depression. Although it is often implicitly assumed that self‐compassion may increase the ...vulnerability of an individual to depression, only a few studies have assessed whether self‐compassion is a cause or a consequence of depression or both.
Method
To examine such reciprocal effects, we assessed self‐compassion and depression via self‐report measures. At the baseline assessment (Time 1, T1), 450 students (M = 13.72, SD = 0.83, 54.2% females) participated 10 months after the Jiuzhaigou earthquake. We reassessed the T1 sample after 6‐ and 12‐month intervals. At Time 2 (T2) assessment, 398 (56.0% female participants) of the Wave 1 participants were retained, and at Time 3 (T3) assessment, 235 (52.5% female participants) of the T1 and T2 participants were retained.
Results
Cross‐lagged analyses indicated that positive self‐compassion could significantly reduce subsequent depression. However, depression did not significantly predict later positive self‐compassion. Negative self‐compassion at T1 increased depression at T2, but negative self‐compassion at T2 did not significantly predict depression at T3. In addition, positive self‐compassion significantly reduced subsequent negative self‐compassion.
Conclusions
Positive self‐compassion appears to protect adolescents against depression and maintain this protection over time, whereas negative self‐compassion may worsen depression in adolescents during the initial stages of traumatic events. Additionally, positive self‐compassion may decrease the level of negative self‐compassion.
The Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003a) is the most widely used measure of self-compassion. Self-compassion, as measured by the SCS, is robustly linked to psychological health (Macbeth & Gumley, ...2012; Zessin, Dickhaüser, & Garbade, 2015). The SCS is currently understood as exhibiting a higher-order structure comprised of 6 first-order factors and 1 second-order general self-compassion factor. Recently, some researchers have questioned the internal validity of this 1-factor conceptualization, and posit that the SCS may instead be comprised of 2 general factors-self-compassion and self-coldness. The current paper provides an in-depth examination of the internal structure of the SCS using oblique, higher-order, and bifactor structural models in a sample of 1,115 college students. The bifactor model comprised of 2 general factors-self-compassion and self-coldness-and 6 specific factors demonstrated the best fit to the data. Results also indicated the Self-Coldness factor accounted for unique variance in depression, anxiety, and stress, whereas the Self-Compassion factor only accounted for unique variance in its association with depression, providing further evidence for the presence of 2 distinct factors. Results did not provide support for the 1-factor composition of self-compassion currently used in research. Implications for using, scoring, and interpreting the SCS are discussed.
Public Significance Statement
The present study suggests that the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003a) measures two theoretically distinct constructs (i.e., Self-Compassion and Self-Coldness) rather than one Self-Compassion factor as currently used. Additionally, self-coldness demonstrated a significant positive association with depression, anxiety, and stress, but self-compassion only demonstrated a significant inverse association with depression. In turn, our findings call for a reexamination the relationships of self-compassion with psychological outcomes because previous research predominantly included both self-coldness and self-compassion items to measure self-compassion.
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