Self-compassion and women athletes' responses to emotionally difficult sport situations: An evaluation of a brief induction. (March 2015) - Reis, Nathan A.
Abstract: Objectives: To examine self-compassion as a way to promote healthy responses in women athletes when faced with emotionally difficult sport-specific situations. Design: Phase I, cross-sectional; Phase II, experimental. Methods: In Phase I, participants ( N = 101; M age = 20.0, SD = 2.8 years) completed measures of self-compassion, self-esteem, and narcissism, as well as reactions, thoughts, and emotions in response to hypothetical (i.e., responsible for a team loss) and recalled scenarios. Participants returning for Phase II were randomly assigned to a brief self-compassion induction ( n = 21), self-esteem induction ( n = 20), or writing control ( n = 18) group. Following the induction, they responded to the same hypothetical scenario as in Phase I. Phase I results: After partialling out self-esteem and narcissism, self-compassion was related ( p < .01) to negative affect ( r = −.40), catastrophizing thoughts ( r = −.30), personalizing thoughts ( r = −.32), and behavioral equanimity ( r = .28) for the hypothetical scenario. A similar pattern was found for the recalled scenario. Phase II results: A MANOVA with Phase I self-compassion, self-esteem, and narcissism as covariates resulted in a non-significant group by time interaction, Wilks' Lambda = .75, F (12, 96) = 1.27, p = .25. Follow-up hierarchical regression analysis showed Phase I levels of self-compassion as the only significant predictor for negative affect, personalizing thoughts, and behavioral equanimity. Conclusions: Women athletes with higher self-compassion levels generally responded in healthier ways to emotionally difficult hypothetical and recalled situations in sport than their less self-compassionate counterparts. However, future research needs continued focus on evaluating self-compassion inductions and interventions for use in sport. Highlights: Increased self-compassion predicts healthy responses to challenging sport scenarios. Benefits of self-compassion were above those of self-esteem and narcissism. Initial level of self-compassion was the dominant predictor of responses. A brief self-compassion induction seems limited in effectiveness for women athletes.