IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v20y2019i5d10.1007_s10902-018-0011-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Testing Direct and Indirect Ties of Self-Compassion with Subjective Well-Being

Author

Listed:
  • Jordan A. Booker

    (Emory University)

  • Julie C. Dunsmore

    (Virginia Tech)

Abstract

Two studies considered the direct associations between self-compassion and areas of subjective well-being (SWB; experiences of affect, subjective happiness, life satisfaction), among incoming college students (N = 161) and college students across academic levels (N = 143). In each sample, self-compassion was correlated with each report of SWB, after controlling for demographics. Hierarchical regressions tested for direct ties of self-compassion with aspects of SWB beyond demographics, dispositional gratitude, and other areas of SWB. Results suggested that self-compassion was directly and uniquely tied to only subjective happiness across both samples. Lastly, we revisited each sample and explored multiple indirect effects between self-compassion and reports of SWB. We tested effects from self-compassion onto well-being via subjective happiness; a reversed model arrangement of effects from well-being onto self-compassion; and an alternative model that considered positive affect as an intervening variable rather than subjective happiness. Results suggested that the second arrangement of effects from SWB onto self-compassion via subjective happiness was best supported. Significant indirect effects of SWB to self-compassion through positive affect (Sample 2 only), negative affect, and life satisfaction were also supported. Findings reinforced ties between self-compassion and SWB, and suggest a particularly strong association between self-compassion and subjective happiness. This may be due to both constructs involving constructive forms of evaluating challenging experiences and the management of relatedness goals for maintaining reliable, positive ties with others.

Suggested Citation

  • Jordan A. Booker & Julie C. Dunsmore, 2019. "Testing Direct and Indirect Ties of Self-Compassion with Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(5), pages 1563-1585, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:20:y:2019:i:5:d:10.1007_s10902-018-0011-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-018-0011-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-018-0011-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10902-018-0011-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kennon Sheldon & Sonja Lyubomirsky, 2006. "Achieving Sustainable Gains in Happiness: Change Your Actions, not Your Circumstances," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 55-86, March.
    2. Christopher Peterson & Nansook Park & Martin Seligman, 2005. "Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction: the full life versus the empty life," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 25-41, March.
    3. Sonja Lyubomirsky & Chris Tkach & M. DiMatteo, 2006. "What are the Differences between Happiness and Self-Esteem," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 78(3), pages 363-404, September.
    4. Bruce Headey & Jonathan Kelley & Alex Wearing, 1993. "Dimensions of mental health: Life satisfaction, positive affect, anxiety and depression," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 63-82, May.
    5. Rosseel, Yves, 2012. "lavaan: An R Package for Structural Equation Modeling," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 48(i02).
    6. Shannon Suldo & E. Huebner, 2006. "Is Extremely High Life Satisfaction During Adolescence Advantageous?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 78(2), pages 179-203, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Laura Galiana & Mireia Guillén & Antonia Pades & Sarah L. Flowers & Gabriel Vidal-Blanco & Noemí Sansó, 2022. "The Spanish Version of the State Self-Compassion Scale–Long Form (SSCS–L): A Study of Its Validity and Reliability in a Sample of Nursing Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-12, August.
    2. Eva Asselmann & Antonia Bendau & Cosma Hoffmann & Christina Ewert, 2024. "Self-compassion Predicts Higher Affective Well-being and Lower Stress Symptoms Through Less Dysfunctional Coping: A Three-wave Longitudinal Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 25(5), pages 1-14, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Benjamin Caunt & John Franklin & Nina Brodaty & Henry Brodaty, 2013. "Exploring the Causes of Subjective Well-Being: A Content Analysis of Peoples’ Recipes for Long-Term Happiness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 475-499, April.
    2. R. C. Mishra, 2017. "Meaning of Happy Life for the Kharwars in India in Their Journey Towards Development," Psychology and Developing Societies, , vol. 29(2), pages 221-245, September.
    3. Jacolyn Norrish & Dianne Vella-Brodrick, 2008. "Is the Study of Happiness a Worthy Scientific Pursuit?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 87(3), pages 393-407, July.
    4. Carmel Proctor & P. Linley & John Maltby, 2009. "Youth Life Satisfaction: A Review of the Literature," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 10(5), pages 583-630, October.
    5. Sato, Mikihiro & Jordan, Jeremy S. & Funk, Daniel C., 2016. "A distance-running event and life satisfaction: The mediating roles of involvement," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 536-549.
    6. Ofer I. Atad & Pninit Russo-Netzer, 2022. "The Effect of Gratitude on Well-being: Should We Prioritize Positivity or Meaning?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 1245-1265, March.
    7. Agarwal, Reeti & Mehrotra, Ankit & Misra, Dheeraj, 2022. "Customer happiness as a function of perceived loyalty program benefits - A quantile regression approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    8. Julia Krasko & Sabrina Intelisano & Maike Luhmann, 2022. "When Happiness is Both Joy and Purpose: The Complexity of the Pursuit of Happiness and Well-Being is Related to Actual Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(7), pages 3233-3261, October.
    9. Gaston-Breton, Charlotte & Lemoine, Jérémy E. & Voyer, Benjamin G. & Kastanakis, Minas N., 2021. "Pleasure, meaning or spirituality: Cross-cultural differences in orientations to happiness across 12 countries," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 1-12.
    10. Piotr Oleś & Tomasz Jankowski, 2018. "Positive Orientation—a Common Base for Hedonistic and Eudemonistic Happiness?," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 13(1), pages 105-117, March.
    11. Annette Henricksen & Christine Stephens, 2013. "The Happiness-Enhancing Activities and Positive Practices Inventory (HAPPI): Development and Validation," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 81-98, March.
    12. Laura Giuntoli & Federica Condini & Francesco Ceccarini & Veronika Huta & Giulio Vidotto, 2021. "The Different Roles of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives for Activities in Predicting Functioning and Well-Being Experiences," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1657-1671, April.
    13. Timo Lorenz & Clemens Beer & Jan Pütz & Kathrin Heinitz, 2016. "Measuring Psychological Capital: Construction and Validation of the Compound PsyCap Scale (CPC-12)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, April.
    14. Sonia Nawrocka & Hans De Witte & Margherita Pasini & Margherita Brondino, 2023. "A Person-Centered Approach to Job Insecurity: Is There a Reciprocal Relationship between the Quantitative and Qualitative Dimensions of Job Insecurity?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(7), pages 1-27, March.
    15. Md. Mominur Rahman & Bilkis Akhter, 2021. "The impact of investment in human capital on bank performance: evidence from Bangladesh," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-13, December.
    16. De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel & Oswald, Andrew J., 2012. "Estimating the influence of life satisfaction and positive affect on later income using sibling fixed-effects," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51523, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Masashi Soga & Kevin J. Gaston & Yuichi Yamaura & Kiyo Kurisu & Keisuke Hanaki, 2016. "Both Direct and Vicarious Experiences of Nature Affect Children’s Willingness to Conserve Biodiversity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-12, May.
    18. César Merino-Soto & Gina Chávez-Ventura & Verónica López-Fernández & Guillermo M. Chans & Filiberto Toledano-Toledano, 2022. "Learning Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-L): Psychometric and Measurement Invariance Evidence in Peruvian Undergraduate Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    19. Sarah Flèche & Richard Layard, 2017. "Do More of Those in Misery Suffer from Poverty, Unemployment or Mental Illness?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(1), pages 27-41, February.
    20. Prinz, Aloys & Bünger, Björn, 2009. "From full life to balanced life: Extending Martin Seligman's route to happiness," CAWM Discussion Papers 17, University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:20:y:2019:i:5:d:10.1007_s10902-018-0011-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.