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This article defines and examines the construct of self-compassion. Self-compassion entails three main components: (a) self-kindness-being kind and understanding toward oneself in instances of pain or failure rather than being harshly self-critical, (b) common humanity-perceiving one's experiences as part of the larger human experience rather than seeing them as separating and isolating, and (c) mindfulness-holding painful thoughts and feelings in balanced awareness rather than over-identifying with them. Self-compassion is an emotionally positive selfattitude that should protect against the negative consequences of self-judgment, isolation, and rumination (such as depression). Because of its non-evaluative and interconnected nature, it should also counter the tendencies towards narcissism, selfcenteredness, and downward social comparison that have been associated with attempts to maintain self-esteem. The relation of self-compassion to other psychological constructs is examined, its links to psychological functioning are explored, and potential group differences in self-compassion are discussed.In recent years, several criticisms have been made of the use of self-esteem as a primary measure of psychological health (Baumeister, Smart, & Boden, 1996;Damon, 1995;Ellis & London, 1993;Finn, 1990;Hewitt, 1998;McMillan, Singh, & Simonetta, 1994;Seligman, 1995;Swann, 1996). Self-esteem, which stems from evaluations of self-worth, is constituted by judgments and comparisons (Coopersmith, 1967;Harter, 1999). As William James (1890) proposed over a century ago, self-esteem involves evaluating personal performances (how good am I?) in comparison to set standards (what counts as good enough?) in domains of perceived importance (it's important to be good at this). Self-esteem also involves looking to others' evaluations of the self (how much do others like me, approve of me?), in order to determine how much one likes the self (Cooley, 1902;Mead, 1934). Social comparison is an additional determinant of self-esteem (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1993;Beach & Tesser, 1995;Buunk, 1998;Deci & Ryan, 1995;Suls & Wills, 1991), so that the self is evaluated in relation to the performances of others.The psychological benefits of high self-esteem have been widely extolled in both academia and the popular press (Branden, 1969;Coopersmith, 1967;McKay

The objective of the present study was to construct and validate a short-form version of the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS). Two Dutch samples were used to construct and cross-validate the factorial structure of a 12-item Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form (SCS-SF). The SCS-SF was then validated in a third, English sample. The SCS-SF demonstrated adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha ≥ 0.86 in all samples) and a near-perfect correlation with the long form SCS (r ≥ 0.97 all samples). Confirmatory factor analysis on the SCS-SF supported the same six-factor structure as found in the long form, as well as a single higher-order factor of self-compassion. The SCS-SF thus represents a reliable and valid alternative to the long-form SCS, especially when looking at overall self-compassion scores.

The MSC program appears to be effective at enhancing self-compassion, mindfulness, and wellbeing.

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