Self‐compassion and complete perinatal mental health in women at high risk for postpartum depression: The mediating role of emotion regulation difficulties
Abstract
Objectives There is evidence suggesting that self-compassion is linked to key mechanisms in emotion regulation models of depression and anxiety. However, the majority of prior research has targeted community samples and overlooked the analysis of such mechanisms in relation to positive mental health. This study sought to examine the direct and indirect effects, via emotion regulation difficulties, of self-compassion on the complete mental health outcomes of women at high risk for postpartum depression (PPD). Design Cross-sectional, correlational study. Methods The sample for this study comprised 1053 postpartum women presenting high risk for PPD, as determined by the clinical cut-off score obtained through the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised. The assessment protocol further included self-report measures of self-compassion, depression and anxiety symptoms, flourishing and emotion regulation difficulties. Correlation analyses were conducted to ascertain associations between variables, and path analysis was performed to examine direct and indirect effects. Results Difficulties in emotion regulation mediated the links between self-compassion and negative (distress) and positive (flourishing) mental health outcomes. The overall mediation model explained 48% and 39% of variance for psychological distress and flourishing/positive mental health respectively. Conclusions These findings support the applicability of an emotion regulation model of self-compassion to wo…
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- Authors
- Carona, C., Xavier, S., Canavarro, M. C., & Fonseca, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Coimbra (PT)
- Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences University of Coimbra Coimbra Portugal
- Corresponding author
- Carona, Carlos
- Venue
- Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2022-02-10
- Volume
- 95
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 561-574
- ISSN
- 1476-0835 (ISSN-L)
- 2044-8341
- OpenAlex
- W4211160691
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 6
- FWCI
- 3.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychology and Psychotherapy Theory Research and Practice (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Universidade de Coimbra (UIDB/PSI/00730/2020)
- Federación Española de Enfermedades Raras
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
- Keywords
- self-compassion, postpartum depression, perinatal mental health, emotional dysregulation, eudaimonia, positive mental health, psychological distress, mediation
- MeSH terms
- Emotional Regulation, Self-Compassion, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Empathy, Female, Humans, Mental Health, Pregnancy, Depression, Postpartum
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