The association between compassionate goals and relational-interdependent self-construal

Abstract

Although research has examined the consequences of relational self-construal, little is known about what psychological factors predict it. Four studies examined the association between compassionate goals and relational self-construal. Study 1 showed that compassionate goals are positively associated with relational self-construal in college students. Study 2 replicated this association among adults in romantic relationships. Studies 3 and 4 showed that compassionate goals predict increased relational self-construals over time in college roommates. Moreover, Studies 2–4 showed that responsiveness to relationship partners statistically mediated the association between compassionate goals and self-construal. These studies suggested that people with compassionate goals have highly relational self-construals and that they also develop higher levels of relational self-construals by being responsive to relationship partners.

Investigating the relationship between conscientiousness and self-compassion with marital satisfaction among Iranian married employees

“…It means that they have tendency for social support and encourage interpersonal trust with their spouses. [ 22 ] Research results also showed that compassion is associated with satisfaction with marital life. In explaining these results, it could be stated that self-compassion is associated with sense of worthiness, happiness, and sense of authenticity; self-compassion individuals are able to express their ideas in romantic relationships.…”

“…[ 20 ] Findings of different studies suggest that self-judgment, feeling of isolation, and rumination of people with lack of self-compassion would directly contribute to a reduced marital satisfaction and instability. [ 21 ] In a research carried out by Jiang et al .,[ 22 ] results revealed that people with self-compassion have kind goals in their relationship. It means that they show high tendency to socially support their spouses and encourage interpersonal trust.…”

Interdependent = Compassionate? Compassionate and Self-Image Goals and Their Relationships With Interdependence in the United States and Japan

“…They were asked: “In your everyday relationships, how much do you want or try to do the following?” and rated each item on a scale from 1 = not at all to 5 = very much . Twenty-eight items from Canevello and Crocker (unpublished), two items from Jiang et al (2017), and 22 items from Niiya (2016) were aggregated into a scale. Two items overlapped, resulting in a pool of 50 items.…”

“…People with interdependent selves include other people and relationships as part of their mental representations of themselves and prioritize harmonious relationships over individual achievement (Fiske et al, 1998). Indeed, people who have compassionate goals have more interdependent self-construals, and develop increasingly interdependent self-construals over time (Jiang et al, 2017). Thus, compassionate goals and interdependent self-construals may be highly overlapping, and even, one might argue, conceptually indistinguishable.…”

“…The Japanese compassionate goals scale (Niiya, 2016) showed a moderate positive correlation with Takata’s (2000) measure of interdependence (0.31), a slightly stronger correlation with the affinity for others subscale (0.42) and a weaker positive correlation with the evaluation apprehension subscale (0.13). In the United States, compassionate goals correlated positively with relational interdependent self-construal (i.e., the extent to which people define themselves in terms of their close personal relationships; Cross et al, 2000) among undergraduates (0.41) and romantic couples (0.23) and compassionate goals predicted increased relational interdependent self-construal over 3 weeks and 10 weeks (Jiang et al, 2017). Taken together, these findings suggest that compassionate goals are empirically related but not necessarily a core component of interdependence.…”