Self-compassion as a moderator of the relationship between rumination, self-reflection and stress

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1 Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 30 (2011) WCPCG-2011 Self-compassion as a moderator of the relationship between rumination, self-reflection and stress Gh. Samaieª, H.A. Farahani b ªMA student in clinical psychology, Alzahra University, Vanak, Tehran, P.Code: , Iran* b Department of psychology, University of Tehran, Jalal Al-e-Ahmad Ave., Tehran, P.Code , Iran Abstract Objective: The present study aimed to examine the relationship between rumination, self-reflection and stress and to investigate the role of self-compassion as a moderator of this relationship.methods: A sample of 275 undergraduate students completed a set of reliable and valid questionnaires including measures of rumination and self-reflection (RRQ), stress (DASS) and selfcompassion (SCS).Results: Using a co-relational design, the study found that rumination had a significant positive association with stress (p = 0.001, r = 0.31) and self-reflection had a significant negative association with stress (p = 0.001, r = ).Moderated multiple regression analysis indicated that self-compassion significantly moderated the link between rumination and stress ( R 2 = 0.032, p = 0.001) and it also significantly moderated the relationship between self-reflection and stress ( R 2 =0.041, p = 0.001). The results indicated that sequentially 3.2 % and 4.1 % of the variance in stress could be attributable to moderating role of self-compassion in this relationship.conclusion: Our findings demonstrate an association of rumination and self-reflection with stress and suggest that the association between rumination and self-reflection with stress might be moderated by self-compassion. Overall, the present findings suggest that high levels of self-compassion function to attenuate the link between rumination and stress and also it functions to amplify the relationship between self-reflection and stress. Keywords: self-compassion; rumination; self-reflection; stress * Corresponding Author. Tel.:(+9821) ; Fax:(+9821) Gh_samaie@yahoo.com 1. Introduction 1.1. Self-compassion Self-compassion, a new concept in the field of personality psychology [1,2], is based on ideas discussed in the insight tradition of Buddhism [3]. Self-compassion involves being caring and compassionate towards oneself in the face of hardship or perceived inadequacy [4,3]. According to Neff [1], self-compassion consists of three interacting components: self-kindness, a sense of common humanity, and mindfulness (the ability to face painful thoughts and feelings, but without exaggeration, drama or self-pity). These components facilitate a recognition and acceptance of reality as it is, and enhance the capacity to respond effectively in any given situation [1]. Several research studies have found strong support for the notion that self-compassion is associated with psychological health. For instance, higher levels of self-compassion have been associated with greater life satisfaction, emotional intelligence, social connectedness, and mastery goals, as well as less self-criticism, depression, anxiety, rumination, thought suppression, perfectionism, performance goals, and disordered eating behaviors [5, 1, 6, 7]. Raes suggests that one way via which self-compassion has buffering effects on depression and anxiety is through its positive effects on Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the 2nd World Conference on Psychology, Counselling and Guidance. doi: /j.sbspro

2 Gh. Samaie and H.A. Farahani / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 30 (2011) unproductive repetitive thinking [8]. Gilbert (2005) suggests that self-compassion enhances well-being because it helps individuals to feel cared for, connected, and emotionally calm [2]. Using social mentality theory which draws on principles of evolutionary biology, neurobiology, and attachment theory Gilbert (1989) proposes that self-compassion deactivates the threat system (associated with feelings of insecurity, defensiveness and the limbic system) and activates the self-soothing system (associated with feelings of secure attachment, safeness, and the oxytocin-opiate system)[9]. Environmental factors are also likely to play a key role. Preliminary evidence among adolescents suggests that self-compassion is related to maternal criticism and other family messages given to youths, as well as to attachment schemas [10] Stress In the 1930s, [11] defined stress as the nonspecific response of the body to any demand for change. Later, definitions have focused on two major components of stress: (a) the cause (i.e., environmental stressors or stimuli; e.g., major live events or daily hassles) [12] and (b) the effect [i.e., subjective reaction to stress, which has two further components: stress appraisal (perceptional processing) and emotional response][13] Self-rumination and self-reflection Definitions of rumination have included passively focusing one s attention on a negative emotional state, intrusive thinking about a distressing event, distress associated with thoughts about recent negative events [14]. Considering the contradictory aspects of self-focused attention, Trapnell and Campbell (1999) distinguished between the rumination and reflection subtypes of private self-consciousness, based on the motivation and fivefactor model of personality. Self-reflection is a contrasting form of self-focus that is motivated by curiosity or epistemic interest in the self and is associated with openness to experiences. Self-reflection and reflective pondering are characterized as a form of self-focus aimed at understanding the self and overcoming problems and difficulties, whereas self-rumination and brooding (referring to self-critical moody pondering) are characterized as neurotic and chronic forms of self-focus, such as gloomy, anxious, or depressed thinking [15, 16]. Previous researches have indicated that self-rumination has a positive correlation with personal distress and the unhappiness of memories; however, self-reflection has a positive correlation with perspective taking and empathic concern [17,18]. There is evidence to suggest that rumination is related to neuroticism [19,20].Some authors have argued that a ruminative response style might be considered a cognitive manifestation of neuroticism [21]. Neff [1,22] provided first evidence that greater self-compassion is related to less rumination. In fact, Leary et al. (2007) suggested that self compassionate people may experience less negative (i.e. depressed and anxious) affect following a negative event because they ruminate less or not about possible negative implications of such an event [23]. The combined observations of rumination s relation with both self compassion and stress support the idea that rumination might moderate the relation between self-compassion and stress. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between rumination, self-reflection and stress and also to investigate the hypothesis that self-compassion mediates the association between rumination, self-reflection and stress. 2. Method 2.1. Participants The sample comprised 275 undergraduates of different universities of Tehran consisting Allame Tatabaie University, Tehran University, Shahid Beheshti University and Azad University. The procedure typically lasted about 20 min.

3 980 Gh. Samaie and H.A. Farahani / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 30 (2011) Measures Self-compassion scale (SCS): The SCS [1] consists of 26 items assessing six different aspects of selfcompassion: self-kindness, self-judgment, common humanity, isolation, mindfulness, and over-identification. Adequate validity and reliability is reported [1].Persian translation of the questionnaire was used. Rumination and reflection scale (RRQ): The participants completed the RRQ [15]. The questionnaire was used to assess the participants tendency to ruminate about and reflect on themselves. The RRQ contains self-rumination and self-reflection subscales. Each subscale consists of 12 items. All the items have to be rated on a 5-point scale, whose anchors range from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). Previous studies have shown good testretest reliability and convergent validity of the RRQ [15].In this study, the Persian-translated version of the questionnaire was used. Depression anxiety stress scales (DASS-21) questionnaire: The DASS-21 consists of 7-item self-report in each three scales (DASS -Depression scale, DASS-Anxiety scale and DASS-Stress scale). Items on the DASS are rated on 4-point Likert - type, ranging from 0 (Did not apply to me at all) to 3 (Applied to me very much, or most of the time). In present Table 1. interco-relations among the study variables (N=275) measure self-compassion 2. rumination.28** 3. self-reflection.24**.27** 4. stress.34**.31**.47** ** P <0.001 Table 2. Results of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis for rumination, self-compassion, and their interaction in relating to stress Model R R² Adjusted R² R² F P Model 1: Predictors: self-compassion, rumination Model 2: Predictors: self-compassion, rumination, interaction term (moderating effect of self-compassion) study the DASS-Stress scale was used to measure the negative emotional states of self-perceived stress. The DASS- Stress scale is sensitive to levels of chronic non-specific arousal. It assesses difficulty to relax, nervous arousal, and being easily upset/ agitated, irritable/over reactive, and impatient. This instrument had high internal consistency for all subscales, with Cronbach s alpha ranging from 0.73 to 0.81[24]. 3. Results The correlations among the study variables are presented in Table 1. As it was expected the inter-correlations showed that rumination had a significant positive association with stress (p = 0.001, r = 0.31) and self-reflection was negatively associated with stress(p = 0.001, r = ). In addition, self-compassion was negatively related to rumination (p = 0.001, r = ) and it has moderately positive correlation with self-reflection (p = 0.001, r = 0.24). The statistically significant results of multiple regression analyses are presented in Table 2 and 3. A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to test the hypothesis that self-compassion could moderate the association

4 Gh. Samaie and H.A. Farahani / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 30 (2011) between rumination and self-reflection with stress. As results revealed, after entering interaction term (moderating effect of self- compassion ) in model 2, in the link between rumination and stress.032 increase in R² (see table 2) and furthermore in the relationship between self-reflection and stress.041 increase in R² was indicated (see table 3). So there was significant interaction between rumination and self-reflection with stress and the results showed that sequentially 3.2 % and 4.1 % of the variance in stress could be attributable to moderating role of self-compassion in this relationship. 4. Discussion Consistent with the literature, our findings showed that greater levels of rumination were associated with significantly higher stress levels and greater levels of self-reflection Table 3. Results of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis for self-reflection, self-compassion, and their interaction in relating to stress Model R R² Adjusted R² R² F P Model 1: Predictors: self-compassion, self-reflection Model 2: Predictors: self-compassion, self-reflection, interaction term (moderating effect of self-compassion) demonstrated significantly lower levels of stress and suggest that the association between rumination and selfreflection with stress might be moderated by self-compassion.. Overall, the present findings suggest that high levels of self-compassion function to attenuate the link between rumination and stress and also it function to amplify the relationship between self-reflection and stress. References 1. Neff, K. D. (2003a). Development and validation of a scale to measure selfcompassion. Self and Identity, 2, Gilbert, P. (2005). Compassion and cruelty: a biopsychosocial approach. In P. Gilbert (Ed.), Compassion: Conceptualisations, research and use in psychotherapy (pp. 9 74). London: Routledge. 3. Brach, T. (2003). Radical acceptance: Embracing your life with the heart of a Buddha. New York: Bantam. 4. Bennett-Goleman, T. (2001). Emotional alchemy: How the mind can heal the heart. New York: Three Rivers Press. 5. Adams, C. E., & Leary, M. R. (2007). Promoting self-compassionate attitudes toward eating among restrictive and guilty eaters. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 26, Neff, K. D., Hseih, Y., & Dejitthirat, K. (2005). Self-compassion, achievement goals, and coping with academic failure. Self and Identity, 4, Neff, K. D., Rude, S. S., & Kirkpatrick, K. (2007). An examination of self-compassion in relation to positive psychological functioning and personality traits. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, Raes, P. (2010). Rumination and worry as mediators of the relationship between self-compassion and depression and anxietypersonality and Individual Differences 48, Gilbert, P. (1989). Human nature and suvering. Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum. 10. Neff, K. D. (2008). Self-compassion among adolescents. Paper presented at the 38th annual meeting of the Jean Piaget Society, Quebec City, Canada. 11. Selye H. The stress of life. New York (NY): McGraw-Hill, Holmes T, Rahe R. The Social Readjustment Rating Scale. 13. Lazarus RS, Folkman S. Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York (NY): Springer, Luminet, O. (2004). Measurement of depressive rumination and associated constructs. In C. Papageorgiou, & A. Wells (Eds.), Depressive rumination: Nature, theory and treatment (p ). Chichester: Wiley. 15. Trapnell, P. D., & Campbell, J. D. (1999). Private self-consciousness and the fivefactor model of personality: Distinguishing rumination from reflection. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, Treynor, W., Gonzalez, R., Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Rumination reconsidered: a psychometric analysis. Cognitive Therapy and Research 27 (3), Joireman, J. A., Parrott, L., & Hammersla, J. (2002). Empathy and the self-absorption paradox: Support for the distinction between selfrumination and selfreflection. Self and Identity, 1,

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