Citation

Bluth K, Campo RA, Futch WS, Gaylord SA. J. Youth Adolesc. 2016; 46(4): 840-853.

Affiliation

Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, CB 7200, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 27599, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10964-016-0567-2

PMID

27632177

Abstract

Adolescence is a challenging developmental period marked with declines in emotional well-being; however, self-compassion has been suggested as a protective factor. This cross-sectional survey study (N = 765, grades 7th to 12th; 53 % female; 4 % Hispanic ethnicity; 64 % White and 21 % Black) examined whether adolescents' self-compassion differed by age and gender, and secondly, whether its associations with emotional well-being (perceived stress, life satisfaction, distress intolerance, depressive symptoms, and anxiety) also differed by age and gender. The findings indicated that older females had the lowest self-compassion levels compared to younger females or all-age males. Self-compassion was associated with all emotional well-being measures, and gender and/or age moderated the associations with anxiety and depressive symptoms. Among older adolescents, self-compassion had a greater protective effect on anxiety for boys than for girls. Additionally, older adolescents with low and average self-compassion had greater levels of depressive symptoms than those with high self-compassion. These results may inform for whom and at what age self-compassion interventions may be implemented to protect adolescents from further declines in emotional well-being.

Language: en