Being yourself for the ‘greater good’: An empirical investigation of the moderation effect of authenticity between self-compassion and compassion for others

Abstract

Self-compassion offers profound benefits to well-being and healthy psychological functioning. Surprisingly however, the relationship assumed between compassion for self and others has been questioned by recent research findings and is at best inconsistently correlated. The aim of this study is to throw further light on this debate by testing whether the association between self-compassion and compassion for others is moderated by authenticity amongst 530 participants who completed the Authenticity Scale, the Self-Compassion Scale, and the Compassion Scale. The results show that authenticity has a moderation effect on the association between self-compassion and the kindness, common humanity, mindfulness, and indifference subscales of the Compassion Scale. These results offer some initial insight into understanding the association between compassion for self and others and establish a case for researching the role of authenticity more thoroughly. The findings of this investigation call for further empirical attention to socially constructive aspects of authenticity and the development of new authenticity measurements that may better assess the interaction effect.