Does how you treat yourself affect your health? The relationship between health-promoting behaviors and self-compassion among a community sample.

This study explores the relationship between self-compassion, or treating oneself with kindness and acceptance, using the Self-Compassion Scale, and health-promoting behaviors, using the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II, among a community sample. Canonical correlation results indicate self-compassion and health-promoting behaviors share 76 percent of the variance within the data set. The positive components of self-compassion are strongly positively correlated with health-promoting behaviors, and the negative components of self-compassion are strongly negatively correlated with health-promoting behaviors. Hierarchical linear regression results indicate self-kindness and mindfulness are significant predictors of health-promoting behaviors after controlling for demographics.

KEYWORDS: beliefs; coping; correlation; emotions; health behavior; mood; protective factors; quantitative methods; self-perception; well-being; social connection; co-regulation

PMID: 32191136 DOI: 10.1177/1359105320912448