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Objective: Self-compassion has been framed as a healthy alternative to self-esteem, as it is nonevaluative. However, rather than being alternatives, it may be that the two constructs develop in a mutually reinforcing way. The present study tested this possibility among adolescents.Method: A large adolescent sample (N = 2,809; 49.8% female) reported levels of trait self-esteem and self-compassion annually for 4 years. Autoregressive cross-lagged structural equation models were used to estimate the reciprocal longitudinal relations between the two constructs.Results: Self-esteem consistently predicted changes in self-compassion across the 4 years of the study, but not vice versa.Conclusions: Self-esteem appears to be an important antecedent of the development of self-compassion, perhaps because the capacity to extend compassion toward the self depends on one's appraisals of worthiness. These findings add important insights to our theoretical understanding of the development of self-compassion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Recent evidence suggests that the way in which individuals relate to their aversive thoughts predicts behavioral effectiveness more than the content of such thoughts. This article is among the first to explore whether this is true for coping with stressful events.Method: Three studies with emerging adults (Study 1, N = 202) and adults (Study 2, N = 201; Study 3, N = 141) tested whether changes in how individuals relate to their stress-related thoughts, measured using the individual-difference construct of cognitive defusion, predicted more approach and less avoidance coping behavior, controlling for stress-related appraisals.Results: We found that cognitive defusion predicted more approach coping (Studies 1 and 3) and less avoidance coping (Studies 2 and 3) following laboratory-induced stress (Study 1), naturally occurring monthly stress (Study 2), and daily stress (Study 3). These effects occurred independently of the effects of threat appraisals (Studies 1-3) and self-efficacy appraisals (Study 3) on coping responses.Conclusions: Cognitive defusion may be an important individual-difference predictor of coping behavior, adding to established theories of coping such as Lazarus and Folkman's (1987) transactional theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]