Does compassion for oneself extend to prosocial behavior for others? Examining the relationship between self-compassion and prosocial behavior using multilevel meta-analysis

Self-compassion refers a positive attitude towards oneself, known to enhance individuals' psychological wellbeing. Its impact on interpersonal functions remains incompletely understood. A meta-analysis of research examining its relationship with prosocial behavior, delineating both overall and sub-components levels (i.e., selfwarmth and self-coldness). From 59 studies (N = 39,625) yielding 369 effect sizes, multilevel meta-analysis revealed that self-compassion exhibits small-to-medium positive associations with general prosocial behavior and its diverse manifestations. Similar effect sizes were observed for the relationship between self-warmth and prosocial behavior, while self-coldness fails to yield significant effects. Moderation analysis indicated that the positive impact of self-compassion on prosocial behavior is contingent upon cultural context, types of prosocial behavior and sub-components of self-compassion. The association between self-warmth and prosocial behavior manifests variability across age groups. Future research should delve into the mediators of above links and the contexts in which it is most pronounced.