30-09-2017 | ORIGINAL PAPER | Uitgave 2/2018 Open Access

An Investigation of the Factor Structure of the Self-Compassion Scale
- Tijdschrift:
- Mindfulness > Uitgave 2/2018
Introduction
Within this definition, Neff conceptualised self-compassion as being composed of the following three components:Being touched by and open to one’s own suffering, not avoiding or disconnecting from it, generating the desire to alleviate one’s suffering and to heal oneself with kindness. Self-compassion also involves offering non-judgmental understanding to one’s pain, inadequacies and failures, so that one’s experience is seen as part of the larger human experience. (Neff 2003b, p. 87)
Evidence for a link between self-compassion and mental well-being is increasing (for review see Barnard and Curry 2011). What is more, enhancing self-compassion may also have physical health benefits (Hall et al. 2013). Self-compassion has been shown to be a more accurate predictor of overall well-being than self-esteem (Neff and Vonk 2009) and it accounted for additional variance in anxiety and depression beyond that explained by self-esteem (Gilbert 2009). Self-compassion may protect against emotional distress. In a recent meta-analysis, MacBeth and Gumley ( 2012) found an association between self-compassion and lower levels of depression, anxiety and stress. Although the majority of studies were cross-sectional, the findings suggested that greater self-compassion was associated with mental well-being and that self-compassion may be associated with a reduction in some forms of emotional distress.(a) self-kindness – extending kindness and understanding to oneself in instances of perceived inadequacy or suffering rather than harsh judgment and self-criticism, (b) common humanity – seeing one’s experiences as part of the larger human experience rather than seeing them as separating and isolating, and (c) mindfulness – holding one’s painful thoughts and feelings in balanced awareness rather than over-identifying with them in an exaggerated manner (Neff and Lamb 2009, p. 864)
Method
Participants
Procedure
Measures
Data Analyses
Results
CH
|
MFN
|
SJ
|
ISO
|
OID
|
SCS total
|
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SK
|
.464
|
.630
|
− .673
|
− .449
|
− .462
|
− .805
|
CH
|
–
|
.584
|
− .333
|
− .389
|
− .381
|
− .666
|
MFN
|
–
|
–
|
− .457
|
− .446
|
− .529
|
− .769
|
SJ
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
.614
|
− .602
|
− .819
|
ISO
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
− .651
|
− .772
|
OID
|
–
|
–
|
− .783
|
|||
SCS total
|
–
|
–
|
Item
|
Factor 1—self-criticism
|
Original subscale
|
Factor loading
|
1
|
I’m disapproving and judgmental about my own flaws and inadequacies.
|
SJ
|
.807
|
2
|
When I’m feeling down I tend to obsess and fixate on everything that’s wrong.
|
OID
|
.517
|
6
|
When I fail at something important to me I become consumed by feelings of inadequacy.
|
OID
|
.571
|
8
|
When times are really difficult, I tend to be tough on myself.
|
SJ
|
.542
|
11
|
I’m intolerant and impatient towards those aspects of my personality I don’t like.
|
SJ
|
.474
|
16
|
When I see aspects of myself that I don’t like, I get down on myself.
|
SJ
|
.576
|
23
|
I’m tolerant of my own flaws and inadequacies.
|
SK
|
.628
|
26
|
I try to be understanding and patient towards those aspects of my personality I don’t like.
|
SK
|
.378
|
Factor 2—balance/acceptance
|
|||
3
|
When things are going badly for me, I see the difficulties as part of life that everyone goes through.
|
CH
|
.516
|
7
|
When I’m down and out, I remind myself that there are lots of other people in the world feeling like I am.
|
CH
|
.801
|
10
|
When I feel inadequate in some way, I try to remind myself that feelings of inadequacy are shared by most people.
|
CH
|
769
|
14
|
When something painful happens I try to take a balanced view of the situation.*
|
MFN
|
.322
|
15
|
I try to see my failings as part of the human condition.
|
CH
|
.500
|
17
|
When I fail at something important to me I try to keep things in perspective.
|
MFN
|
.343
|
Factor 3—emotional reactivity/emotion dysregulation
|
|||
9
|
When something upsets me I try to keep my emotions in balance.
|
MFN
|
.453
|
20
|
When something upsets me I get carried away with my feelings.
|
OID
|
.723
|
24
|
When something painful happens I tend to blow the incident out of proportion.
|
OID
|
.693
|
Factor 4—self-kindness
|
|||
5
|
I try to be loving towards myself when I’m feeling emotional pain.
|
SK
|
.604
|
12
|
When I’m going through a very hard time, I give myself the caring and tenderness I need.
|
SK
|
.833
|
19
|
I’m kind to myself when I’m experiencing suffering.
|
SK
|
.833
|
21
|
I can be a bit cold-hearted towards myself when I’m experiencing suffering.
|
SJ
|
− .353
|
22
|
When I’m feeling down I try to approach my feelings with curiosity and openness.
|
MFN
|
.404
|
Factor 5—isolation
|
|||
4
|
When I think about my inadequacies, it tends to make me feel more separate and cut off from the rest of the world.**
|
ISO
|
.391
|
13
|
When I’m feeling down, I tend to feel like most other people are probably happier than I am.
|
ISO
|
.465
|
18
|
When I’m really struggling, I tend to feel like other people must be having an easier time of it.
|
ISO
|
.448
|
25
|
When I fail at something that’s important to me, I tend to feel alone in my failure.
|
ISO
|
.460
|
Model
|
CFI
|
TLI
|
SRMR
|
RMSEA
|
AIC
|
χ
2 (DF)
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Time 1 data (
N = 526)
|
||||||
Single-factor
|
.71
|
.68
|
.08
|
.09
|
2143.9
|
1987.9 (299)
|
2-factor
|
.79
|
.77
|
.07
|
.09
|
1675.7
|
1517.7 (298)
|
5-factor
|
.85
|
.84
|
.07
|
.07
|
1299.1
|
1123.1 (289)
|
Higher-order
|
.84
|
.82
|
.07
|
.08
|
1407.0
|
1239.0 (293)
|
6-factor
|
.88
|
.86
|
.06
|
.05
|
1183.8
|
997.8 (284)
|
Bi-factorial
a
|
.91
|
.88
|
.06
|
.05
|
1023.9
|
787.9 (
259)
|
Time 2 data (
N = 332)
|
||||||
Single-factor
|
.77
|
.75
|
.08
|
.11
|
1673.9
|
1466.8 (299)
|
2-factor
|
.85
|
.84
|
.07
|
.09
|
1218.3
|
1060.3 (298)
|
5-factor
|
.88
|
.87
|
.07
|
.08
|
1003.6
|
879.6 (289)
|
Higher-order
|
.88
|
.87
|
.08
|
.08
|
1045.2
|
877.2 (293)
|
6-factor
|
.92
|
.91
|
.05
|
.06
|
852.23
|
666.2 (284)
|
Bi
-
factorial
a
|
.95
|
.94
|
.06
|
.05
|
757.67
|
521.7 (
259)
|
Scales
|
No. of items
|
Alpha
α
|
Omega
ω
|
Omega H ωH
|
M (SD)
|
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
t1
|
t2
|
Retest
|
t1
|
t2
|
t1
|
t2
|
t1
|
t2
|
||
SCS overall
|
26
|
.92
|
.95
|
.93
|
.94
|
.96
|
.84
|
.90
|
2.82 (.65)
|
3.07 (.32)
|
Self-kindness
|
5
|
.82
|
.89
|
.87
|
.89
|
.93
|
.08
|
.05
|
2.72 (.79)
|
2.8 (.86)
|
Common humanity
|
4
|
.77
|
.83
|
.80
|
.79
|
.85
|
.51
|
.41
|
3.03 (.86)
|
3.09 (.87)
|
Mindfulness
|
4
|
.71
|
.75
|
.81
|
.76
|
.8
|
.29
|
.26
|
3.17 (.76)
|
3.23 (.73)
|
Self-judgement
|
5
|
.81
|
.89
|
.89
|
.83
|
.9
|
.26
|
.20
|
3.33 (.85)
|
3.27 (.93)
|
Isolation
|
4
|
.77
|
.80
|
.83
|
.78
|
.81
|
.51
|
.46
|
3.31 (.92)
|
3.26 (.89)
|
Over-identification
|
4
|
.75
|
.82
|
.87
|
.73
|
.82
|
.34
|
.40
|
3.37 (.89)
|
3.29 (.94)
|
Discussion
Subscale
|
t2 6-factor
|
t2 bi-factorial
|
t1 6-factor
|
t1 bi-factorial
|
---|---|---|---|---|
Self-kindness
|
||||
5
|
.71
|
.79
|
.67
|
.78
|
12
|
.82
|
.86
|
.78
|
.85
|
19
|
.85
|
.88
|
.78
|
.83
|
23
|
.71
|
.76
|
.61
|
.63
|
26
|
.83
|
.85
|
.65
|
.66
|
Self-judgement
|
||||
1
|
.82
|
.74
|
.70
|
.59
|
8
|
.76
|
.71
|
.69
|
.58
|
11
|
.76
|
.69
|
.64
|
.56
|
16
|
.81
|
.70
|
.73
|
.58
|
21
|
.75
|
.72
|
.66
|
.60
|
Common humanity
|
||||
3
|
.70
|
.53
|
.62
|
.39
|
7
|
.75
|
.49
|
.69
|
.34
|
10
|
.76
|
.56
|
.76
|
.44
|
15
|
.75
|
.63
|
.65
|
.51
|
Isolation
|
||||
4
|
.76
|
.60
|
.74
|
.54
|
13
|
.67
|
.55
|
.65
|
.35
|
18
|
.59
|
.42
|
.58
|
.28
|
25
|
.75
|
.60
|
.68
|
.44
|
Mindfulness
|
||||
9
|
.55
|
.39
|
.52
|
.33
|
14
|
.78
|
.62
|
.73
|
.58
|
17
|
.73
|
.65
|
.69
|
.57
|
22
|
.58
|
.61
|
.57
|
.60
|
Over-identification
|
||||
2
|
.81
|
.62
|
.77
|
.54
|
6
|
.75
|
.64
|
.70
|
.45
|
20
|
.70
|
.40
|
.54
|
.26
|
24
|
.64
|
.44
|
.58
|
.31
|