Revisiting the Self-compassion Scale-Short Form: Stronger Associations with Self-inadequacy and Resilience

Abstract

The Self-compassion Scale-Short Form (SCS-SF) was developed as an economical alternative for the Self-compassion Scale (SCS), one of the few scales to assess self-compassion. Despite the active use of the SCS-SF, a psychometric evaluation of this scale remains limited. This study analysed the factor structure, reliability, and construct validity of the SCS-SF in UK university student populations. Of 365 students approached, 333 completed the SCS-SF and other measures including negative psychological constructs (mental health problems, self-criticism, and mental health shame) and positive psychological constructs (selfreassurance, resilience, and well-being). Data were analysed through confirmatory factor analyses and correlations. CFA revealed that the six-factor structure, reported in the validation paper, was not replicated. The positive factor, consisting of the three positive subscales, was not strongly related to any variable but moderately related to reassured-self, resilience, well-being, and inadequate-self. The negative factor, consisting of the three negative subscales, was strongly related to inadequate-self and moderately related to resilience, reassured-self, stress, well-being, depression, and internal shame. Coefficients in the negative factor were in general larger than those in the positive factor. The total SCS-SF score was most strongly related to inadequate-self, followed by resilience. Inter-correlations of the six subscales did follow neither Neff's [1] theoretical model of self-compassion nor the full-scale factor solution. Findings do not accord with the common use of the global SCS-SF score as an assessment of six factors of self-compassion and suggest a two-factor solution assessing self-criticism and self-compassion.

Effects of Self-Compassion Training on Work-Related Well-Being: A Systematic Review

“…In the studies included in this systematic review, selfcompassion was measured using the SCS (Neff, 2003b) and SCS-SF (Raes et al, 2011). While these measures are commonly used in self-compassion research (López et al, 2015), the appropriateness of SCS and SCS-SF as a measurement for self-compassion has been questioned (López et al, 2015;Kotera and Sheffield, 2020). For example, the negative subscales of SCS have been shown to be more strongly related to depression, stress and rumination than the positive ones (López et al, 2015), and the originally proposed factor structure of the SCS-SF (Raes et al, 2011) was not replicated in a study of UK university students (Kotera and Sheffield, 2020).…”

“…While these measures are commonly used in self-compassion research (López et al, 2015), the appropriateness of SCS and SCS-SF as a measurement for self-compassion has been questioned (López et al, 2015;Kotera and Sheffield, 2020). For example, the negative subscales of SCS have been shown to be more strongly related to depression, stress and rumination than the positive ones (López et al, 2015), and the originally proposed factor structure of the SCS-SF (Raes et al, 2011) was not replicated in a study of UK university students (Kotera and Sheffield, 2020). Future studies in this area may thus benefit from assessing selfcompassion using scales such as the Relational Compassion Systematic Review About Self-Compassion Training Scale (Hacker, 2008) or Compassionate Engagement and Action Scales (Gilbert et al, 2017).…”

Burnout in Professional Psychotherapists: Relationships with Self-Compassion, Work–Life Balance, and Telepressure

“…A more representative sample should be used for future research. In addition, self-compassion was measured using the Self-Compassion Scale—Short Form [ 35 ]; however, there is doubt as to its validity [ 66 ]. Further, our variables were measured using self-reported scales, which restricts the reliability of participant responses [ 67 ].…”

Positive Psychology for Mental Wellbeing of UK Therapeutic Students: Relationships with Engagement, Motivation, Resilience and Self-Compassion

“…Thirdly, measuring these constructs using self-report measures might compromise their accuracy (e.g. response bias [Kotera et al 2020a], and validity [Kotera and Sheffield 2020]). Additional qualitative data (e.g.…”