The DOI matches its Crossref record; 46 of the 46 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A Close Examination of the Relationship Between Self-Compassion and Depressive Symptoms
Open accessAbstract
Self-compassion has shown to be beneficial for individuals’ wellbeing; in particular, it has been associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms. The purpose of this study was to further explore the association between self-compassion, as measured by the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), and depressive symptoms, in a large representative sample of community adults ( n = 734, Mean age = 55.7, SD = 15.2). We examined the association of depressive symptoms with the SCS total score, the SCS six subscales (i.e., self-kindness, common humanity, mindfulness, self-judgment, isolation, and over-identification), and the SCS positive and negative items (referred to as self-compassion and self-coldness, respectively). In addition, we explored the predictive ability of self-compassion, self-coldness, and the SCS six subscales on depressive symptoms both cross-sectionally and over a 1-year period of time. Finally, we sought to test the moderating role of self-compassion on the association between self-coldness and depressive symptoms. Results showed that the SCS negative items and subscales were more strongly related to depressive symptoms than the SCS positive items and subscales. Accordingly, self-coldness was a stronger predictor of depressive symptoms, cross-sectionally and over a 1-year timeframe, when compared with self-compassion. Particularly, the feeling of being isolated was shown to be strongly associated with depressive symptoms. We did not find substantial evidence for a moderating role of self-compassion on the association between self-coldness and depressive symptoms. Future research needs to determine the added value of assessing self-coldness and whether or not it is an essential part of self-compassion.
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“Previous research indicated that positive and negative items within the scale represent separate concepts, because negative items have a stronger association with psychopathology (e.g.López et al., 2018;Muris & Petrocchi, 2016).”
From When ‘negativity’ becomes obstructive: a novel exploration of the two-factor model of the Self-Compassion Scale and a comparison of self-compassion and self-criticism interventions (2020) · cites this paper as López et al., 2018
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“In the original study, Neff (2003a) identified and proposed a six-factor, higher-order structure for the SCS, with a general factor of self-compassion explaining the inter-correlations among the six subscales.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-Compassion: An Alternative Conceptualization of a Healthy Attitude Toward Oneself
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“This suggests that the strong relationship between self-compassion and depressive symptoms suggested in previous studies (e.g., MacBeth and Gumley 2012), could be mainly accounted for by the SCS negative items that measure a hard and cold response to the self, that is, the exact opposite of…”
BackgroundGilbert, P., & Procter, S. (2006) · Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy · doi:10.1002/cpp.507 · Cited by 1,822 · cited 1×
“Two processes which seem to be linked with self-criticism are the incapability to resist self-attacks and the inability to generate feelings of warmth and reassurance for the self (Gilbert et al. 2006; Gilbert and Procter 2006; Kelly et al. 2009).”
Background
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Karakasidou, E., Raftopoulou, G., Papadimitriou, A., Chotzoglou, K., & Koundourou, C. (2026) · Psychiatry International · doi:10.3390/psychiatryint7050189
He, X., & Yong, X. (2026) · Frontiers in Virtual Reality · doi:10.3389/frvir.2026.1889087
Psychometric properties of the Spanish adaptation of the Self-Compassion Scale for Youth (SCS-Y)Preprint
García, S. F., Manchón, J., Modrego, L. P., Campello, L. O., & Sebastián, M. J. Q. (2026) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-9800675/v1
Metadata
- Authors
- López, A., Sanderman, R., & Schroevers, M. J.
- Affiliations
- University Medical Center Groningen (NL)
- Corresponding author
- López, Angélica
- Venue
- Mindfulness
- Published
- 2018-01-29
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1470-1478
- ISSN
- 1868-8527 (ISSN-L)
- 1868-8535
- PMC
- PMC6153895
- OpenAlex
- W2793550828
- Cited by
- 103
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 6
- FWCI
- 9.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- 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
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Keywords
- self-compassion, depressive symptoms, self-coldness, Self-Compassion Scale, self-kindness, common humanity, self-judgment, isolation, over-identification, community-dwelling adults, longitudinal prediction, moderating effect
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