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Published on: March 1, 2019
Self-Compassion Buffers the Psychological Distress from Perceived Discrimination Among Socioeconomically
Qianfeng Li1, Jia Wu2,3, Qinglu Wu1
1Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai, Zhuhai, China.
Objectives:
This longitudinal study among socioeconomically disadvantaged people examined self-compassion (SC) as a protective factor in the association between perceived discrimination and psychological distress, with a consideration of the specific contributions of aspects of self-compassion in its buffering effect, including compassionate self-responding (CS), reduced uncompassionate self-responding (RUS), or both (overall SC).
Methods:
Data were collected from 528 socioeconomically disadvantaged Chinese university students through electronic questionnaires on perceived discrimination, self-compassion, and psychological distress (i.e., depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms) in two waves with a 1-year interval.
Results:
Only CS moderated the relationships between perceived discrimination and all three indicators of psychological distress; overall, SC and RUS did not play moderating roles in these relationships.
Conclusions:
CS buffered the impact of perceived discrimination on subsequent psychological distress. This suggests that the protective function of self-compassion might lie mainly in the role played by CS in psychopathological domains (e.g., depression, anxiety, stress, rumination, negative affect) or in the stressor-psychological distress link.
Supplementary Information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12671-021-01810-6.
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