This study explores the relationship between self-compassion, or treating oneself with kindness and acceptance, using the Self-Compassion Scale, and health-promoting behaviors, using the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II, among a community sample. Canonical correlation results indicate self-compassion and health-promoting behaviors share 76 percent of the variance within the data set. The positive components of self-compassion are strongly positively correlated with health-promoting behaviors, and the negative components of self-compassion are strongly negatively correlated with health-promoting behaviors. Hierarchical linear regression results indicate self-kindness and mindfulness are significant predictors of health-promoting behaviors after controlling for demographics.
AllenABLearyMR (2010) Self-compassion, stress, and coping. Social and Personality Psychology Compass4: 107–118.
2.
BarnesAAdamMEEkeAO, et al. (2018) Exploring the emotional experiences of young women with chronic pain: The potential role of self-compassion. Journal of Health Psychology. Epub ahead of print 5 December. DOI: 10.1177/1359105318816509.
3.
BehrendTSSharekDJMeadeAW, et al. (2011) The viability of crowdsourcing for survey research. Behavior Research Methods43: 800–813.
4.
BellingtierJANeupertSD (2018) Negative aging attitudes predict greater reactivity to daily stressors in older adults. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences73(7): 1155–1159.
5.
BerryTR (2019) You do (not?) have to go to the gym: Effects of negations in exercise messages. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology. Epub ahead of print 26 August. DOI: 10.1037/spy0000185.
6.
BiberDDEllisR (2019) The effect of self-compassion on the self-regulation of health behaviours: A systematic review. Journal of Health Psychology24(14): 2060–2071.
7.
BluthKNeffKD (2018) New frontiers in understanding the benefits of self-compassion. Self and Identity17(6): 605–608.
8.
BrionJLearyMDrabkinA (2014) Self-compassion and reactions to serious illness: The case of HIV. Journal of Health Psychology19: 218–229.
9.
BrownLBryantCBrownV, et al. (2016) Self-compassion, attitudes to ageing and indicators of health and well-being among midlife women. Aging and Mental Health20(10): 1035–1043.
10.
BuhrmesterMKwangTGoslingSD (2011) Amazon’s Mechanical Turk: A new source of inexpensive, yet high-quality, data?Perspectives on Psychological Science6: 3–5.
11.
CarsonJKeefeFLynchT, et al. (2005) Loving-kindness meditation for chronic low-back pain. Journal of Holistic Nursing23(3): 287–304.
12.
CohenJ (1988) Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd edn). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
DowdAJJungME (2017) Self-compassion directly and indirectly predicts dietary adherence and quality of life among adults with celiac disease. Appetite113: 293–300.
15.
DuarteCGilbertPStalkerC, et al. (2019) Effect of adding a compassion-focused intervention on emotion, eating and weight outcomes in a commercial weight management programme. Journal of Health Psychology. Epub ahead of print 5 December. DOI: 10.1177/13591053198900.
16.
DundasIBinderPHansenTGB, et al. (2017) Does a short self-compassion intervention for students increase healthy self-regulation? A randomized control trial. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology58(8): 443–450.
17.
DunneSSheffieldDChilcotJ (2018) Brief report: Self-compassion, physical health and the mediating role of health-promoting behaviours. Journal of Health Psychology23(7): 993–999.
18.
FolkmanSMoskowitzJT (2000) Stress, positive emotion, and coping. Current Directions in Psychological Science9(4): 115–118.
19.
GedikZ (2019) Self-compassion and health-promoting lifestyle behaviors in college students. Psychology, Health & Medicine24(1): 108–114.
20.
GermerCK (2009) The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions. New York: Guilford Press.
21.
GermerCKNeffKD (2013) Self-compassion in clinical practice. Journal of Clinical Psychology69(8): 856–867.
22.
GuertinCBarbeauKPelletierL (2018) Examining fat talk and self-compassion as distinct motivational processes in women’s eating regulation: A self-determination theory perspective. Journal of Health Psychology. Epub ahead of print 1 June. DOI: 10.1177/1359105318781943.
23.
HairJFBlackWCBabinBJ, et al. (2014) Multivariate Data Analysis (7th edn). Harlow: Pearson.
24.
HallCWRowKAWuenschKL, et al. (2013) The role of self-compassion in physical and psychological well-being. The Journal of Psychology147(4): 311–323.
25.
IsenAM (2000) Some perspectives on positive affect and self-regulation. Psychological Inquiry11: 184–188.
26.
JenningsLWYoungDM (1988) Forecasting methods for institutional research. In: YanceyB (ed.) New Directions for Institutional Research: Applying Statistics in Institutional Research. San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, pp. 77–96.
27.
KempEBuiMGrierS (2013) When food is more than nutrition: Understanding emotional eating and overconsumption. Journal of Consumer Behaviour12: 204–213.
28.
KengSSmoskiMJRobinsCJ (2011) Effects of mindfulness on psychological health: A review of empirical studies. Clinical Psychology Review31(6): 1041–1056.
29.
LockeSRMcKayRCJungME (2019) “I’m just too busy to exercise”: Reframing the negative thoughts associated with exercise-related cognitive errors. Psychology of Sport and Exercise43: 279–287.
30.
MantziosMEganHH (2017) On the role of self-compassion and self-kindness in weight regulation and health behavior change. Frontiers in Psychology8: 229.
31.
MardiaKV (1985) Mardia’s test of multinormality. In: KotzSJohnsonNL (eds) Encyclopedia of Statistical Sciences (Vol. 5). New York: Wiley, pp. 217–221.
32.
NeffKD (2003a) Development and validation of a scale to measure self-compassion. Self and Identity2: 223–250.
33.
NeffKD (2003b) Self-compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude toward oneself. Self and Identity2(2): 85–101.
34.
NeffKD (2009) Self-compassion. In: LearyMRHoyleRH (eds) Handbook of Individual Differences in Social Behaviour. New York: Gilford Press, pp. 561–573.
35.
NeffKDBeretvasSN (2013) The role of self-compassion in romantic relationships. Self and Identity12: 78–98.
36.
NeffKDKirkpatrickKLRudeSS (2007) Self-compassion and adaptive psychological functioning. Journal of Research in Personality41: 139–154.
37.
NoyesRHartzAJDoebbelingCC, et al. (2000) Illness fears in the general population. Psychosomatic Medicine62: 318–325.
38.
PalmeiraLCunhaMPinto-GouveiaJ (2019) Process of change in quality of life, weight self-stigma, body mass index and emotional eating after an acceptance-, mindfulness- and compassion-based group intervention (Kg-Free) for women with overweight and obesity. Journal of Health Psychology24(8): 1056–1069.
39.
ParrishMHInagakiTKMuscatellKA, et al. (2018) Self-compassion and responses to negative social feedback: The role of fronto-amygdala circuit connectivity. Self and Identity17(6): 723–738.
40.
Pinto-GouveiaJCarvalhoSAPalmeiraL, et al. (2019) Incorporating psychoeducation, mindfulness and self-compassion in a new programme for binge eating (BEfree): Exploring process of change. Journal of Health Psychology24(4): 466–479.
41.
PrinceSAAdamoKBHamelMB, et al. (2008) A comparison of direct versus self-report measures for assessing physical activity in adults: A systematic review. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity5(1): 56.
42.
Raque-BogdanTLEricsonSKJacksonJ, et al. (2011) Attachment and mental and physical health: Self-compassion and mattering as mediators. Journal of Counseling Psychology58: 272–278.
43.
SherryAHensonRK (2005) Conducting and interpreting canonical correlation analysis in personality research: A user-friendly primer. Journal of Personality Assessment84(1): 37–48.
44.
SiroisFMHirschJK (2018) Self-compassion and adherence in five medical samples: The role of stress. Mindfulness. Epub ahead of print 10 April. DOI: 10.1007/s12671-018-0945-9.
45.
SiroisFMRowseG (2016) The role of self-compassion in chronic illness care. Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management23(11): 521–527.
46.
SiroisFMKitnerRHirschJK (2015) Self-compassion, affect, and health-promoting behaviours. Health Psychology34(6): 661–669.
47.
TerryMLLearyMR (2011) Self-compassion, self-regulation, and health. Self and Identity10(3): 352–362.
48.
TerryMLLearyMRMehtaS, et al. (2013) Self-compassionate reactions to health threats. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin39: 911–926.
49.
ThrewGRGregoryJDRobertsK, et al. (2017) Self-critical thinking and overgeneralization in depression and eating disorders: An experimental study. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy45(5): 510–523.
50.
WalkerSNSechristKRPenderNJ (1987) The Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile: Development and psychometric characteristics. Nursing Research36(2): 76–81.
WongCCMakWW (2016) Writing can heal: Effects of self-compassion writing among Hong Kong Chinese college students. Asian American Journal of Psychology7(1): 74–82.
53.
YarnellLMNeffKD (2013) Self-compassion, interpersonal conflict resolutions, and well-being. Self and Identity12: 146–159.
54.
YarnellLMNeffKDDavidsonOA (2018) Gender differences in self-compassion: Examining the role of gender role orientation. Mindfulness. Epub ahead of print 2 November. DOI: 101007/x12671-018-1066-1.
55.
YarnellLMStaffordRENeffKD, et al. (2015) Meta-analysis of gender differences in self-compassion. Self and Identity14(5): 499–520.
56.
ZhangHWatson-SingletonNNPollardSE, et al. (2019) Self-criticism and depressive symptoms: The mediating role of self-compassion. OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying80(2): 202–223.
