Positive, not negative, self‐compassion mediates the relationship between self‐esteem and well‐being

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Abstract
Objectives: The study examined the predictive strengths of self‐esteem, and positive and negative self‐compassion for hedonic and eudaimonic well‐being as well as assessed the relative mediating roles of positive and negative self‐compassion for the relationships among self‐esteem, and hedonic and eudaimonic well‐being. Design: A correlational design was employed through which self‐esteem, self‐compassion, and hedonic and eudaimonic well‐being were measured. Methods: One hundred thirty‐four male ( M = 25.11, SD = 1.66) and 138 female ( M = 21.89, SD = 1.87) participants were chosen by a convenient sampling. Results: The findings evinced that there were significant positive correlations among self‐esteem, positive self‐compassion, and hedonic and eudaimonic well‐being while negative self‐compassion exhibited small positive correlations with both the well‐being measures (criterion). The regression analyses showed that self‐esteem and positive self‐compassion reflected significant predictive strengths for hedonic as well as eudaimonic well‐being while negative self‐compassion did not. This was also true for the social and psychological aspects of well‐being. The β values reflected that positive self‐compassion did show a higher contribution for both the well‐being measures as compared to self‐esteem. Conclusions: The findings evinced that positive, not negative, self‐compassion mediated the relationship between self‐esteem and hedonic well‐being as well as self‐esteem and eudaimonic well‐being. Moreover, self‐esteem and self‐compassion have predictive strengths for both kinds of well‐being. The findings showed the relevance of self‐esteem and self‐compassion to underscore well‐being. The implications and directions for future researchers have been discussed. Practitioner points: Contrary to the earlier findings suggesting self‐esteem and self‐compassion carrying relevance to explicate performance and well‐being of people with individualistic and collectivistic cultures, respectively, the findings of this study suggest both the constructs to be useful to understand the well‐being of people with both the values belonging especially to the fast‐changing societies like India. The study also suggests reconceptualization and empirical verification of self‐compassion that will make it more effective for enhancing and promoting interventions for positive life outcomes.

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