The Development and Validation of a Scale to Measure Self-Compassion
This is the companion paper that built the instrument, the Self-Compassion Scale, which made the construct measurable and produced the research that followed. It reports a series of studies establishing that the scale is reliable, that it holds together as a measure, and that it relates to the outcomes the theory predicts: people scoring higher report less depression and anxiety and greater life satisfaction. The most important evidence is the discriminant validity, showing the scale is not simply measuring self-esteem under another name, since that is the obvious objection to the whole construct. Two cautions belong here. The relationships reported are correlations between self-report measures, which share method and are prone to overlap, and the structure of the scale, particularly whether the negatively worded items should be combined with the positive ones, has been argued over in the literature since. This vault cites it whenever a self-compassion score is being interpreted.
This is the companion paper that built the instrument, the Self-Compassion Scale, which made the construct measurable and produced the research that followed. It reports a series of studies establishing that the scale is reliable, that it holds together as a measure, and that it relates to the outcomes the theory predicts: people scoring higher report less depression and anxiety and greater life satisfaction. The most important evidence is the discriminant validity, showing the scale is not simply measuring self-esteem under another name, since that is the obvious objection to the whole construct. Two cautions belong here. The relationships reported are correlations between self-report measures, which share method and are prone to overlap, and the structure of the scale, particularly whether the negatively worded items should be combined with the positive ones, has been argued over in the literature since. This vault cites it whenever a self-compassion score is being interpreted.
Written from the abstract, OpenAlex.
What our sources record
Reproduced as it was written when this source was checked, figures and all.
Pilot n = 68, exploratory factor analysis n = 391, cross-validation N = 232; 26 items, six subscales; initial confirmatory fit for the higher-order single factor described as marginal.
Where we use it
- Why You Are Kinder to Your Friends Than to Yourself, Why We Care
Reliability of this reference
The link below was matched against the publisher's record on title, first author and year, and all three agree.
The source
https://doi.org/10.1080/15298860309027
DOI: 10.1080/15298860309027