The Relationship between Self-compassion and Other-focused Concern among College Undergraduates, Community Adults, and Practicing Meditators

TLDR

Other‑focused concern encompasses compassion for humanity, empathetic concern, perspective taking, personal distress, altruism, and forgiveness. The study examined the association between self‑compassion and other‑focused concern among college undergraduates, community adults, and practicing meditators. The sample comprised 384 college undergraduates, 400 community adults, and 172 practicing meditators. Across all groups, higher self‑compassion was associated with greater perspective taking, greater forgiveness, and lower personal distress; it also correlated with compassion for humanity, empathetic concern, and altruism in community adults and meditators but not undergraduates, with the strongest links in meditators and weaker associations in women compared to men.

Abstract

The present study examined the link between self-compassion and concern for the well-being of others. Other-focused concern variables included compassion for humanity, empathetic concern, perspective taking, personal distress, altruism and forgiveness. Participants included 384 college undergraduates, 400 community adults, and 172 practicing meditators. Among all participant groups, higher levels of self-compassion were significantly linked to more perspective taking, less personal distress, and greater forgiveness. Self-compassion was linked to compassion for humanity, empathetic concern, and altruism among community adults and meditators but not college undergraduates. The strength of the association between self-compassion and other-focused concern also varied according to participant group and gender. The strongest links tended to be found among meditators, while women tended to show weaker associations than men.