Self-compassion and depressive symptoms in a Norwegian student sample

Excessive self-criticism is common to many mental health problems, including depression. Theoretically, positive self-compassion may work to prevent depression by protecting against the proliferation of self-condemning responses. A sample of Norwegian university students (N = 277, mean age = 22.9 years, SD = 3.5 years, 56% women) completed the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) and the SCL-90 Depression subscale. Items of the three positive SCS-subscales (self-kindness, mindfulness, and common humanity) and items of the three negative SCS subscales (self-judgment, over-identification, and isolation) were combined to provide measures of Positive Self-Compassion and Self-Condemnation respectively. A moderation analysis indicated that the association between Self-Condemnation and Depressive Symptoms was weaker for individuals high in positive self-compassion, as expected. Bootstrap mediation analyses (conducted separately in groups scoring high and low in positive self-compassion) suggested that, in individuals high in positive self-compassion, self-compassion worked to reduce depressive symptoms by inversely affecting self-condemnation. When positive self-compassion was low, however, only Self-Condemnation predicted Depressive Symptoms. These results suggest that when positive self-compassion is above a certain level, it can keep self-condemning responses in check. If positive self-compassion is too weak, however, something else is needed, perhaps understanding input from another person.