Self-compassion as a shield? Investigating self-compassion’s prospective role in buffering the effects of traumatic and negative life events

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Background and Objectives: Existing research highlights the potential role of self-compassion in promoting trauma recovery over time but does not clarify whether an individual’s level of self-compassion prior to experiencing a trauma is a protective factor against the onset of symptoms. This prospective study tests whether baseline self-compassion buffers the link between exposure to traumatic or stressful events and subsqeuent mental and behavioral health (post-traumatic stress symptoms, general psychological distress, eating pathology, alcohol use problems, and sexual dissatisfaction) among college students.Design & Methods: Undergraduate students (n = 312) completed an electronic survey at the beginning of the academic semester (T1) and 7–10 weeks later (T2).Results: T1 trait self-compassion did not consistently buffer the impacts of experiencing traumatic or negative events during the semester on end-of-semester mental and behavioral health.Conclusions: Results suggest that trait self-compassion may be a factor associated with better functioning across some domains following trauma or stress, but that the links between exposure and poor mental and behavioral health may be similar regardless of one’s pre-exposure levels of self-compassion. Enhancing self-compassion may facilitate better recovery following trauma exposure but trait self-compassion does not appear to reduce the impacts associated with exposure.

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