Understanding self-compassion in adolescents: Validation study of the Self-Compassion Scale

Abstract

Self-compassion is an adaptive self-attitude when considering personal inadequacies or difficult life situations and seems to be crucial to adolescent's experience. However, self-compassion remains less investigated in adolescence. This paper aims to analyse the psychometric properties of Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003) and test its six-factor structure through a Confirmatory Factor Analysis in a representative sample of adolescents. The sample consists of 3165 adolescents, aged between 12 and 19 years old (Mage = 15.49) from Portuguese schools. Results confirm the six-factor and second-order structures of the SCS and the measurement invariance across gender. The SCS and subscales also revealed good internal reliability and convergent validity with measures of positive emotional memories, depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms. Overall, our findings suggest that the SCS is a valid and reliable measure to assess self-compassion among adolescents.

Age and Gender Differences in the Associations of Self-Compassion and Emotional Well-being in A Large Adolescent Sample

“…As the self-compassion research base in adolescent populations is nascent, there is even more limited literature that addresses self-compassion in varied cultural contexts (i.e., Akin & Akin, 2014; Cunha, Xavier, & Cashilho, 2016; Jativa & Cerezo, 2014; Zeller et al, 2015). Future studies should replicate these findings in different cultural contexts.…”

“…However, due to the brevity of the scale, it is recommended that only the total score be used, rather than the subscale scores (Raes et al, 2011). Convergent and discriminant validity are good (Castilho, Pinto-Gouveia, & Duarte, 2015) and the full scale has been validated with adolescents (Cunha, Xavier, & Castilho, 2016). Reliability is also good; reported Cronbach’s alphas > .75.…”

The Protective Role of Self-Compassion on Risk Factors for Non-suicidal Self-Injury in Adolescence

“…Self-compassion may be a protective factor against mental health difficulties (Barnard & Curry, 2011;Neff, 2003aNeff, , 2003b) and appears to be beneficial in adolescence (Bluth & Blanton, 2014Cunha et al, 2013Cunha et al, , 2016Marshall et al, 2015;Neff & McGehee, 2010). However, research on self-compassion among adolescents is still scarce.…”

“…The Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003a; Portuguese version for adolescents: Cunha, Xavier, & Castilho, 2016) is a self-report questionnaire composed by 26 items and six subscales: Self-kindness (5 items), Self-judgment (5 items), Common humanity (4 items), Isolation (4 items), Mindfulness (4 items) and Over-identification (4 items).…”

“…Indeed, adolescents who are more self-compassionate tend to report secure attachment style, greater feelings of social connectedness, higher levels of mindfulness and lower levels of depression and anxiety (Bluth & Blanton, 2014Cunha, Martinho, Xavier, Espírito-Santo, 2013;Cunha, Xavier, & Castilho, 2016;Neff & McGehee, 2011). In contrast, adolescents who are low in self-compassion were more likely to struggle with psychological distress, emotion dysregulation, substance use and suicide attempt (Tanaka, Wekerle, Schomuck, Paglia-Boak, & the map research team, 2011;Vettese, Dyer, Li, & Wekerle, 2011).…”