The effects of self-construals, self-criticism, and self-compassion on depressive symptoms

• Published in: Personality and individual differences Vol. 68; pp. 65 - 70
• Main Authors: Yamaguchi, Ayano, Kim, Min-Sun, Akutsu, Satoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Culture; Depression; Depressive symptoms; Medical sciences; Mental health and well-being; Mood disorders; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Self-compassion; Self-construal; Self-criticism; Asia; United States; North America; Japan; America; Self-construal; Depressive symptoms; Self-criticism; Mental health and well-being; Self-compassion; Culture; Social environment; Mood disorder; Human; Crosscultural study; Well being; Depression; Personality; Correlation analysis; Self criticism; Self concept
• ISSN: 0191-8869; 1873-3549
• DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2014.03.013

•We examined how self-construals, self-criticisms, and self-compassion affect depressive symptoms.•We explored the cultural variations in our proposed model.•We found that self-criticism and self-compassion utilize multiple pathways to exert an influence on depressive symptoms across cultures. The purpose of this exploratory study was to cross-culturally examine associations among self-construals, comparative vs. internalized self-criticisms, self-compassion, and depressive symptoms. 1200 undergraduates in the city of Kyoto, Japan, and 420 college students in Tennessee and Michigan participated in this study. The results indicated that both independent and interdependent self-construals were negatively related to comparative self-criticism while positively related to internalized self-criticism. Both forms of self-criticism negatively affected self-compassion, while self-compassion lowered depressive symptoms. In the U.S., independent (vs. interdependent) self-construal had stronger impact on both types of self-criticism, while in Japan, interdependent (vs. independent) self-construal had stronger impact on both types of self-criticism, indicating that culturally dominant self-construal has a larger influence on self-criticism. In both cultures, internal (vs. comparative) self-criticism has a less negative impact on self-compassion. Cultural specific tests are described to support the findings.