The differential effects of a self-compassion versus mindfulness manipulation on growth-related mindsets.

Research to date has only hinted at the relative roles of self-compassion and mindfulness in outcomes of psychological growth. This study aimed to delineate the relative contribution of self-compassion and mindfulness to outcomes related to psychological growth in an academic setting. Given that self-compassion is a more approach-oriented emotion regulation strategy than mindfulness, it was expected that a self-compassion reflection would increase positive mindsets and behaviours to growth, more so than either a mindfulness or control reflection exercise. Undergraduate UBCO students (n = 174) completed an online questionnaire before and after a reflection exercise. The questionnaire assessed state self-compassion, state mindfulness, intended coping strategies, intended goal orientation, perceived competence, acceptance of responsibility, and midterm marks in the same course. The questionnaire also assessed stress, positive affect, and negative affect as secondary outcomes. Reflective journaling exercises were implemented in order to induce self-compassionate or mindfulness responses to an unsatisfactory midterm grade. All three groups increased in positive affect, and significantly decreased in reported negative affect and stress toward their midterm grade after the reflection exercise. Despite some within-group changes in growth from baseline to post-test, there were no significant differences between groups on growth variables after the manipulation. Nonetheless, the more that students wrote, the more growth they reported from baseline to post-test. Remarkably, all three reflection conditions produced an increase in positive affect, and a decrease in negative affect and stress toward their midterm mark, demonstrating that doing active reflection, no matter what the reflection contents, can be beneficial when it comes to coping with a difficult experience (i.e., reflecting). Further, results demonstrate the writing more is more beneficial than writing less about the difficult experience. Results do not support the a priori hypotheses that reflecting with self-compassion will result in greater growth than reflecting with either mindfulness or a control. Implications and future directions are discussed.Arts and Sciences, Irving K. Barber School of (Okanagan)Psychology, Department of (Okanagan)Graduat