Self-Compassion: A Potential Shield Against Extreme Self-Reliance?

Ping Ying Choo and Jacob M. Marszalek ()
Additional contact information
Ping Ying Choo: University of Missouri-Kansas City
Jacob M. Marszalek: University of Missouri-Kansas City

Journal of Happiness Studies, 2019, vol. 20, issue 3, No 17, 994 pages

Abstract: Abstract Can self-compassion protect young adults from the pitfalls of self-reliance? Emerging adults undergo a process of exploring their identities and establishing significant relationships that is vulnerable to stressors. Extreme self-reliance exacerbates this because of a lack of access to emotional support, threatening their well-being. Self-compassion facilitates emotional regulation and enhanced coping, which may protect young adults’ well-being from the consequences of self-reliance. We explored (a) the relationships among self-reliance, self-compassion and its elements (i.e., self-kindness, self-judgment, mindfulness, over-identification, common humanity, and isolation), and well-being, and (b) the potential of self-compassion as either a buffer or a mediator of the relationship between self-reliance and well-being. At an urban Midwestern public university, we recruited 208 young adults aged between 18 and 30 years (M = 21.94, SD = 3.49) with diverse backgrounds. We found that self-reliance, self-judgment, over-identification, and isolation were moderately-to-strongly negatively correlated with well-being, and that self-kindness, mindfulness, and common humanity were moderately-to-strongly (i.e., .30

Keywords: Self-reliance; Self-compassion; Well-being; Protective factor; Buffering; Moderation; Mediation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-018-9978-y Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:20:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s10902-018-9978-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... fe/journal/10902/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10902-018-9978-y

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Happiness Studies is currently edited by Antonella Delle Fave

More articles in Journal of Happiness Studies from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().