Does Self-Compassion Protect Adolescents from Stress?

The aim of this study was to determine whether adolescents who were high in self-compassion self-reported different levels of emotional wellbeing than adolescents who were low in self-compassion, and to determine whether those high in self-compassion responded differently under a lab social stressor than those low in self-compassion. In a lab setting, participants (age 13–18; n = 28) completed the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and physiological stress was assessed via salivary cortisol, heart rate, blood pressure, and heart rate variability at baseline, during the TSST, and during recovery. After completing the lab protocol, an email was sent to participants that provided a link to an online survey which was composed of emotional wellbeing measures including perceived stress, life satisfaction, positive and negative affect. After conducting repeated measure ANOVAS to determine that the TSST induced a significant stress response, the sample was split at the median of self-compassion. T tests were conducted to determine meaningful differences (Hedges’ g > .20) between the groups. Findings indicated that those in the high self-compassion group (≥the median) self-reported greater emotional wellbeing than those in the low self-compassion group (