The Relations Between Self-Compassion, Self-Coldness, and Psychological Functioning Among North American and Hong Kong College Students

The purpose of the study was to examine self-compassion as two interrelated yet distinct constructs (self-compassion and self-coldness) and their relations to psychological functioning in two cultural contexts.

A total of 165 United States (US) and 141 Hong Kong (HK) undergraduate students completed self-report measures on self-compassion, self-coldness, subjective well-being, depression, and anxiety. A multi-group structural equation model (SEM) was used to examine the relations between self-compassion, self-coldness, and psychological functioning.

The multi-group SEM demonstrated good model fit (CFI = .97, RMSEA = .05, SRMR = .07). The relation between self-compassion and self-coldness was negative among US students (95% CI [− .42, − .08]), but positive among HK students (95% CI [.00, .22]). This association was significantly different across the two groups (χ²(1) = 13.02, p < .001). Self-compassion was associated with significantly higher levels of subjective well-being (95% CI [1.14, 2.28]), lower levels of depressive (95% CI [− 5.56, − 1.88]), and anxiety symptoms (95% CI [− 3.83, .032]) in HK. However, none of the relations were significant among US students. In contrast, self-coldness was negatively associated with subjective well-being (US, 95% CI [− 1.41, − .61]; HK, [− 2.60, − 1.30]) and positively associated with depressive (US, 95% CI [2.50, 4.47]; HK, [2.80, 6.86]) and anxiety symptoms (US, 95% CI [2.59, 4.53]; HK, [1.92, 6.27]) for both groups.

The differential pattern of results by cultural context suggest that self-compassion is best examined as a two-factor construct. Self-compassion and self-coldness have distinct implications for psychological functioning among young adults hailing from different cultural contexts.