Resilience, self-compassion, and indices of psychological wellbeing: a not so simple set of relationships
Abstract
Objective Resilience and self-compassion are related, yet distinct, constructs that have each been separately associated with psychological wellbeing. This study aimed to examine the relative contribution of these constructs to psychological wellbeing simultaneously by investigating whether greater levels of resilience and self-compassion were associated with improved psychological wellbeing as represented by greater optimism, life satisfaction, and positive affect, and lower negative affect and psychological distress.Method Participants (N = 168) in this online cross-sectional study first completed a demographic survey. Following this, participants completed measures of resilience, self-compassion, optimism, life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, and psychological distress.Results Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that self-compassion and resilience both held a moderate-to-strong positive association with optimism and life satisfaction, and a moderate-to-strong negative association with depressive symptoms. Only self-compassion was associated with anxiety, stress, and negative affect, all with a moderate-to-strong negative effect. Only resilience was associated with positive affect. Here, a moderate-to-strong positive effect was observed.Conclusions Results suggested that self-compassion and resilience contribute to psychological wellbeing in different ways. This indicates that targeted interventions aimed at increasing self-compassion and resilienc…
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Self-compassion is negatively associated with both depression and anxiety in community samples, chronic illness samples and SARS-CoV-2 recovery samples.
“Self-compassion has previously been found to be negatively associated with both depression and anxiety in community samples, chronic illness samples and SARS-CoV-2 recovery samples (e.g., Bag et al. 2022;Hughes et al. 2021;Matos et al. 2022).”
From Illness Stigma and Shame in People With Chronic Illnesses vs. SARS‐CoV‐2 Survivors: Associations With Psychological Distress Through Psychological Flexibility and Self‐Compassion. (2024) · cites this paper as Bag et al. 2022
Cites
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“However, self-compassion may better serve to minimise the experience of negative affective, rather than to promote more positive affective states (Gilbert, 2005, 2009).”
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The Self-Compassion Scale is a Valid and Theoretically Coherent Measure of Self-Compassion
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“This supports prior research that has found resilience training interventions promote positive affect (Abbott et al., 2009; Steinhardt & Dolbier, 2008).”
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“…manualised 8-week Mindful Self-Compassion program (Germer & Neff, 2013, 2019) and the brief 3-week group-based selfcompassion intervention (Mantelou & Karakasidou, 2017; Smeets et al., 2014) have demonstrated efficacy in producing positive outcomes associated with negative affect and mood states.”
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Berglund, S., Danielsson, A., Jakobsson Støre, S., Carreiras, D., Carvalho, S. A., Blomqvist‐Storm, M., Pinto, H., Palmeira, L., Pereira, M., & Trindade, I. A. (2024) · Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy · doi:10.1002/cpp.70009 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
- Authors
- Bag, S. D., Kilby, C. J., Kent, J. N., Brooker, J., & Sherman, K. A.
- Affiliations
- Macquarie University (AU)
- Cairnmillar Institute (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Kilby, Christopher J.
- Venue
- Australian Psychologist
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2022-06-29
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 249-257
- ISSN
- 0005-0067 (ISSN-L)
- 1742-9544
- OpenAlex
- W4283723047
- Cited by
- 24
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 4.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Australian Psychologist (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- funding associated
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Resilience and Mental Health
- Keywords
- resilience, self-compassion, psychological well-being, optimism, life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, psychological distress, depressive symptoms, anxiety, stress
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