TY - JOUR

T1 - Old Wine in New Bottles? The Case of Self-compassion and Neuroticism

AU - Pfattheicher, Stefan

AU - Geiger, Mattis

AU - Hartung, Johanna

AU - Weiss, Selina

AU - Schindler, Simon

PY - 2017/3/1

Y1 - 2017/3/1

N2 - Research on self-compassion, which is defined as being understanding and kind to oneself when confronted with negative experiences, has produced an impressive number of articles in recent years. This research shows that individual differences in self-compassion, as measured by the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), are positively related to life satisfaction, health and social functioning. However, a critical and systematic test of self-compassion from a personality perspective has not yet conducted so far. In the present study (N = 576), we (i) tested the factor structure of the SCS, (ii) examined the distinctiveness of self-compassion with regard to the five-factor model of personality, focusing on neuroticism, and (iii) tested the incremental predictive power of self-compassion beyond the five-factor model in the context of life satisfaction. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a two-factor plus six facets solution of self-compassion (a positive factor and a negative factor). Additional analyses revealed that the negative factor was redundant with facets of neuroticism (rs ≥.85), whereas the positive factor had some unique variance left. However, neither the negative factor nor the positive factor could explain substantial incremental variance in life satisfaction beyond neuroticism. Recommendations for how to use the SCS are provided, and the future of research on self-compassion is discussed.

AB - Research on self-compassion, which is defined as being understanding and kind to oneself when confronted with negative experiences, has produced an impressive number of articles in recent years. This research shows that individual differences in self-compassion, as measured by the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), are positively related to life satisfaction, health and social functioning. However, a critical and systematic test of self-compassion from a personality perspective has not yet conducted so far. In the present study (N = 576), we (i) tested the factor structure of the SCS, (ii) examined the distinctiveness of self-compassion with regard to the five-factor model of personality, focusing on neuroticism, and (iii) tested the incremental predictive power of self-compassion beyond the five-factor model in the context of life satisfaction. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a two-factor plus six facets solution of self-compassion (a positive factor and a negative factor). Additional analyses revealed that the negative factor was redundant with facets of neuroticism (rs ≥.85), whereas the positive factor had some unique variance left. However, neither the negative factor nor the positive factor could explain substantial incremental variance in life satisfaction beyond neuroticism. Recommendations for how to use the SCS are provided, and the future of research on self-compassion is discussed.

KW - Big Five

KW - five-factor model

KW - jangle fallacy

KW - neuroticism

KW - self-compassion

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85017516044&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/per.2097

DO - 10.1002/per.2097

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85017516044

VL - 31

SP - 160

EP - 169

JO - European Journal of Personality

JF - European Journal of Personality

SN - 0890-2070

IS - 2

ER -