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Compassion for Others and Self-Compassion: Levels, Correlates, and Relationship with Psychological Well-being
Open accessAbstract
Compassion for others and self-compassion are assumed to be closely related concepts. Yet, as they have been mostly studied separately, little is known about their relationship and to what extent they differ or resemble each other with respect to their correlates. This cross-sectional study aimed to gain knowledge on their mean levels, interrelationship, and relationships to psychological well-being and demographic factors. A community sample of 328 adults completed a series of standardized self-report questionnaires to assess compassion for others, self-compassion, depressive symptoms, negative affect, and positive affect. Results showed that compassion for others and self-compassion were not significantly related. Self-compassion was more strongly related to negative and positive indicators of affect than compassion for others. Compassion for others was higher in women than in men, and in low educated individuals compared to higher educated individuals. In contrast, self-compassion was lower in low educated individuals. Future research can build up on these findings to enlarge the understanding of how compassion for others and self-compassion relate and differ from each other.
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“Findings related to the relationship between compassion for others and mental health are markedly different from findings related to self-compassion and psychopathology, and in line with previous research [13].”
From Validation of the compassionate engagement and action scales, compassion scale, and Sussex-Oxford compassion scales in a French-Canadian sample (2024) · cites this paper as [13]
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Citations
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Development and Validation of the Compassion Scale
Pommier, E., Neff, K. D., & Tóth-Király, I. (2020) · Assessment · doi:10.1177/1073191119874108 · Cited by 345
Development and Psychometric Properties of the Sussex-Oxford Compassion Scales (SOCS)
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Self-Compassion and Current Close Interpersonal Relationships: a Scoping Literature Review
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Metadata
- Authors
- López, A., Sanderman, R., Ranchor, A. V., & Schroevers, M. J.
- Affiliations
- University Medical Center Groningen (NL)
- Corresponding author
- López, Angélica
- Venue
- Mindfulness
- Published
- 2017-07-18
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 325-331
- ISSN
- 1868-8527 (ISSN-L)
- 1868-8535
- PMC
- PMC5770484
- OpenAlex
- W2736494566
- Cited by
- 281
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 26 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 45 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 17.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Mindfulness (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- University of Twente Research Information (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- University of Twente Research Information (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Forgiveness and Related Behaviors
- Keywords
- compassion for others, self-compassion, psychological well-being, affect, depressive symptoms, gender differences, educational attainment, positive affect, negative affect
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