Resilience, self-compassion, and indices of psychological wellbeing: a not so simple set of relationships

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective Resilience and self-compassion are related, yet distinct, constructs that have each been separately associated with psychological wellbeing. This study aimed to examine the relative contribution of these constructs to psychological wellbeing simultaneously by investigating whether greater levels of resilience and self-compassion were associated with improved psychological wellbeing as represented by greater optimism, life satisfaction, and positive affect, and lower negative affect and psychological distress. Method Participants (N = 168) in this online cross-sectional study first completed a demographic survey. Following this, participants completed measures of resilience, self-compassion, optimism, life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, and psychological distress. Results Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that self-compassion and resilience both held a moderate-to-strong positive association with optimism and life satisfaction, and a moderate-to-strong negative association with depressive symptoms. Only self-compassion was associated with anxiety, stress, and negative affect, all with a moderate-to-strong negative effect. Only resilience was associated with positive affect. Here, a moderate-to-strong positive effect was observed. Conclusions Results suggested that self-compassion and resilience contribute to psychological wellbeing in different ways. This indicates that targeted interventions aimed at increasing self-compassion and resilience simultaneously may contribute to improvements in different components of wellbeing. KEY POINTS What is already known about this topic: Psychological wellbeing is associated with general health, psychological development, and longevity. Greater self-compassion and resilience are independently associated with greater wellbeing. Both self-compassion and resilience can be targeted through psychological interventions to promote wellbeing. What this topic adds: (1) Self-compassion and resilience, when considered together, do not uniquely relate to all aspects of psychological wellbeing. (2) Both self-compassion and resilience were uniquely related to some components of wellbeing (e.g., optimism). For other aspects of wellbeing (e.g., minimal symptoms of anxiety), only one of self-compassion or resilience was uniquely related to wellbeing. (3) There is now a need to examine the unique effect of manipulating self-compassion and resilience on wellbeing to confirm if these patterns of associations are indicative of early intervention effectiveness.