The Effect of Self-Compassion on Biological and Emotional Responses to the Transition to High School

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Social, Emotional, Personality

Abstract

The transition from childhood to adolescence is associated with many stressful experiences- from gaining more independence and increased social pressure to fit in, to additional academic pressure and a higher school workload. Early adolescence is also a period of increased vulnerability, as rates of psychopathology increase sharply from childhood to adolescence. Of course, not all youth who experience stress develop later psychopathology, which is why it is important to determine what makes some youth more vulnerable than others. Developmental models posit that biological and psychological responses to stress play an important role in predicting the onset of psychopathology. Self-compassion is an adaptive means of relating to oneself, and research has shown that higher levels of self-compassion are associated with lower levels of perceived stress. A gap in the literature is that most studies that have examined self-compassion and stress are cross-sectional and most use self-report data exclusively. The current study is the first longitudinal study to look at the effect of self-compassion on biological and psychological responses to a naturalistic stressor: the transition to high school. Participants (n = 68, Mage = 12.93) completed the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003) at baseline. We then followed them across the first two days of high school. During these two days, we assessed negative affect and diurnal cortisol four times each day. We found that a higher level of self-compassion was associated with better emotional responses to stress (less negative affect), p = .010, but not associated with diurnal cortisol patterns, p > .225. These findings indicate that self-compassion leads to more adaptive emotional, but not biological, responses to stress in youth. Promoting a more self-compassionate perspective may help youth cope with stress and act as a protective factor against psychopathology.

Authors

• Alison Tracy, University of British Columbia (UBC)
  Presenting Author

• Maggie Coval, University of British Columbia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ellen Jopling, University of British Columbia (UBC)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Joelle LeMoult, University of British Columbia
  Non-Presenting Author