Self-Compassion, Self-Injury, and Pain

Self‐compassion, self‐forgiveness, suicidal ideation, and self‐harm: A systematic review

“…The majority of studies scored low for their design; six studies were cross‐sectional, and four made no attempt to include homogenous groups. Only three studies (Collett et al, ; Gregory et al, ; Xavier et al, ) used validated measures, and all studies used self‐report measures. Collett et al () were the only group to report calculations for statistical power.…”

“…The combined sample size was 4,345 participants, with a mean age of 20.9 years old (range = 11–66 years old); 58.6% ( n = 2,547) of participants were female. Five studies were conducted in North America (Chang et al, ; Gregory et al, ; Hayes et al, ; Rabon, Sirois, & Hirsch, ; Tanaka et al, ) and were the only studies to detail ethnicity; three of the samples were predominantly White (59–89%) and female (67.9–100% female). Tanaka et al's () sample reported diverse ethnic backgrounds (27% White, 31.3% Black, and 27.8% dual/multiple ethnicity).…”

“…The SCS short form includes two items from each of the original subscales. In addition to the SCS, Gregory et al () measured state self‐compassion (participants rated how trusting, loving, grateful, and joyful they were feeling) before and after a values affirmation task.…”

“…Four studies used a single item to assess self‐harm or ideation (lifetime history: Gregory et al, ; last 12 months: Jiang, You, Zheng, et al, ; Jiang, You, Ren, et al, ; Tanaka et al, ). Although Hayes et al () recorded lifetime suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and NSSI, they reported a dichotomized score indicating the presence or absence of suicidal ideation or self‐harm.…”

“…Individuals with no history of self‐harm (Gregory et al, ; Hayes et al, ) reported higher self‐compassion. Additionally, self‐harm groups scored lower on the positive subscales and higher on the negative subscales of the SCS than control groups.…”