State Self-Compassion, Anxiety Severity, and Depressive Symptoms: A Moderation Analysis in a Community Adult Sample

Abstract

Background/Objectives: State self-compassion, a temporary and situationally specific form of responding to oneself with compassion, has been increasingly examined in relation to emotional distress, yet most studies have examined anxiety and depression as parallel outcomes rather than exploring how self-compassion relates to depressive symptoms while accounting for anxiety severity. The present study examined whether state self-compassion is independently associated with depressive symptoms after controlling for anxiety severity and demographic variables, and whether anxiety moderates the associations between state self-compassion and depressive symptoms as well as positive affect. Methods: A community sample of 581 Greek adults aged 18–65 years completed the State Self-Compassion Scale–Long Form (SSCS-L), the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales–21 (DASS-21), and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted controlling for age, gender, and education, and interaction terms between centered state self-compassion and anxiety severity were entered to test moderation. Separate models were estimated for depressive symptoms and positive affect. Results: State self-compassion was significantly associated with lower depressive symptoms and higher positive affect after controlling for anxiety severity and demographic variables. Anxiety severity was positively associated with depressive symptoms. A small but statistically significant interaction indicated that the negative association between state self-compassion and depressive symptoms was slightly stronger at higher levels of anxiety. No moderation effect was observed for positive affect. Conclusions: Findings indicate that state self-compassion was independently associated with lower depressive symptoms and higher positive affect. Self-compassion with psychological functioning is largely consistent across anxiety levels. The results do not support a strong protective role for self-compassion; the association with lower depressive symptoms held broadly across anxiety levels. Future research should include longitudinal or intervention-based studies to enhance the role of self-compassion in helping people manage the difficult emotions.