The Relationship Between Self-Compassion and Well-Being: A Meta-Analysis
Zessin and colleagues meta-analysed seventy-nine samples, more than sixteen thousand people, on the relationship between self-compassion and wellbeing. The overall association is moderate to large, and it varies by the kind of wellbeing measured: stronger for how people evaluate their lives and their psychological functioning, weaker for their moment-to-moment emotional state. They tested self-esteem as a possible explanation, since the obvious objection is that self-compassion is simply self-esteem measured differently, and the relationship survived that test. The most useful part is the subset of studies with experimental designs, which indicated a causal effect of self-compassion on wellbeing rather than only an association, though that subset is small. As with the rest of this literature, most of the evidence is correlational and self-reported. This vault cites it for the size of the relationship rather than for the causal claim.
Zessin and colleagues meta-analysed seventy-nine samples, more than sixteen thousand people, on the relationship between self-compassion and wellbeing. The overall association is moderate to large, and it varies by the kind of wellbeing measured: stronger for how people evaluate their lives and their psychological functioning, weaker for their moment-to-moment emotional state. They tested self-esteem as a possible explanation, since the obvious objection is that self-compassion is simply self-esteem measured differently, and the relationship survived that test. The most useful part is the subset of studies with experimental designs, which indicated a causal effect of self-compassion on wellbeing rather than only an association, though that subset is small. As with the rest of this literature, most of the evidence is correlational and self-reported. This vault cites it for the size of the relationship rather than for the causal claim.
Written from the abstract, OpenAlex.
What our sources record
Reproduced as it was written when this source was checked, figures and all.
Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 7(3), 340-364. k = 79 samples, N = 16,416; r = 0.47 overall, r = 0.62 with psychological wellbeing.
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/10.1111/aphw.12051
DOI: 10.1111/aphw.12051