Self-compassion and emotional regulation as predictors of social anxiety

Abstract

Objectives: Self-compassion and emotional regulation have been identified as constructive attitudes towards the self which can reduce emotional distress. This study is the first to examine the role of a self-compassionate attitude towards the self in reducing symptoms of social anxiety. The study also explored the role of emotional regulation strategies of cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES) as mechanisms that mediate the impact of self-compassion on social anxiety.

Design: Structural equation modelling (SEM) was conducted on cross-sectional correlational data with MPlus version 6.

Methods: A sample of 750 undergraduate students (378 men and 372 women) completed an online survey comprised of well validated self-report measures of social anxiety, emotional regulation and self-compassion.

Results: Structural equation modelling showed that self-compassion predicted lower social anxiety directly and indirectly through lower ES. Higher self-compassion also predicted higher CR. Contrary to expectation, CR did not predict lower social anxiety. Exploratory analyses of self-compassion divided into Compassionate Self-responding (CSR) and Refraining from Non-compassionate Responding (RUSR) identified RUSR as a predictor of lower social anxiety directly and indirectly via ES and CR. CSR had no direct effect on social anxiety but did so indirectly via CR.

Conclusions: The findings provide preliminary evidence that self-compassion can play an important role in alleviating social anxiety and that emotion regulation through ES and CR are important mechanisms of that influence.

Practitioner points: Adopting a more compassionate attitude towards the self can reduce the symptoms of social anxiety Emotional regulation through reducing emotional suppression may be a mechanism whereby higher levels of self-compassion reduce symptoms of social anxiety. Although higher levels of self-compassion predict greater use of emotional regulation through cognitive appraisal, cognitive appraisal does not predict levels of symptoms of social anxiety The capacity to refrain from non-compassionate self-responding may reduce symptoms of social anxiety directly and indirectly through lower levels of emotional suppression and greater cognitive reappraisal (CR). However, compassionate self-responding only influences symptoms of social anxiety through CR.

Keywords: emotional regulation; self-compassion; social anxiety.