Emotion regulation partly mediates the link between self-compassion and well-being in daily life : differences between overall, positive, and negative self-compassion

Abstract

Objectives: Increasing evidence suggests that self-compassion (SC) can be understood as a state that fluctuates throughout the day. As with trait-level SC, emotion regulation (ER) has emerged as a mediator between momentary SC and higher concurrent well-being. However, research is in its early stages and focuses on the overall SC score, obscuring possible differences between the positive (SC-Pos) and negative components of SC (SC-Neg).

Methods: A 7-day Ecological Momentary Assessment study with six semi-random signals per day was completed by 119 individuals (64 female). With each signal, individuals reported their momentary positive (PA) and negative affect (NA), recent SC, daily hassles, and ER strategies since the last signal (acceptance, reappraisal, social sharing, rumination, distraction, and expressive suppression).

Results: Whenever individuals reported higher SC than usual, they applied more acceptance, more reappraisal, and less rumination than usual. These ER strategies partly mediated the link between higher SC and higher PA/lower NA. SC-Pos was connected to more acceptance, reappraisal, and expressive suppression (and partly to more social sharing). These ER strategies mediated the association betwee SC-Pos and PA/NA. SC-Neg was related to more rumination, distraction, social sharing, expressive suppression, and less acceptance and reappraisal, with rumination, acceptance, and reappraisal being significant mediators. SC, SC-Pos, and SC-Neg explained substantial variance in PA and NA beyond ER strategies.

Conclusions: Overall SC is connected to momentary well-being in daily life through more adaptive ER. However, SC remains uniquely linked with well-being, emphasizing its prominent role in well-being. The distinction between SC-Pos and SC-Neg may shed some light on the “true protective nature” of SC.

Preregistration: This study is not preregistered.