Article
Background: Self-compassion — the disposition to treat oneself with kindness, common humanity, and mindful equanimity in moments of personal failure or distress — has attracted considerable empirical attention as a protective psychological resource. However, studies examining its predictive role for psychological well-being while controlling for sociodemographic variables in general adult samples remain limited.
Aim: The present cross-sectional study investigated whether self-compassion significantly predicts psychological well-being after controlling for age and gender in a community sample of adults.
Design and Sample: N = 103 adults (M age = 34.7 years, SD = 10.2; 57.3% female, 42.7% male; 78.6% employed, 21.4% students) completed the Self-Compassion Scale – Short Form (SCS-SF; α = .90) and the WHO-5 Well-Being Index (α = .88) via anonymous online survey.
Main Results: Bivariate correlation revealed a strong positive association between self-compassion and psychological well-being, r(101) = .58, p < .001. In a multiple regression controlling for age and gender, self-compassion remained a significant predictor of well-being (β = .56, t = 6.82, p < .001), while age (β = .09, p = .334) and gender (β = -.06, p = .474) were non-significant. The overall model explained 34% of variance (R² = .34, Adjusted R² = .32, F(3, 99) = 17.01, p < .001).
Conclusion: Self-compassion is a robust predictor of psychological well-being in adults, independent of age and gender. Findings support the development of self-compassion-based interventions as a scalable approach to promoting population mental health.
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