Abstract
Emerging findings suggest that relating to oneself compassionately (i.e., self-compassion; Neff, 2003) is associated with young women athletes’ psychological flourishing (Ferguson et al., 2011). However, athletes have expressed reservations about fully embracing self-compassion and are hesitant to give up self-criticism (Ferguson et al., 2013; Mosewich et al., 2013). We explored relations among self-compassion, fear of self-compassion, self-criticism, and psychological flourishing in sport among young women athletes (N = 137; Mage = 19.04 years). Self-compassion was negatively related (all p < .05) to self-critical reactions in challenging sport situations (r = -.53) and positively related to indices of psychological flourishing in sport, such as autonomy, body appreciation, and vitality (rs = .20 – .48). In contrast, fear of self-compassion was positively associated with self-critical reactions in sport (r = .42) and negatively associated with flourishing in sport (rs = -.20 – -.41). Data were consistent with models of mediation whereby (1) self-compassion linked to greater flourishing through decreased self-criticism (Rs = .06 – .07), and (2) fear of self-compassion negatively linked with flourishing through greater self-criticism (Rs = .07 – .09). Findings support claims that self-critical people have a fear of being kind and affiliative to themselves (Gilbert et al., 2011), which is important given that extending compassion toward the self may facilitate psychological flourishing in sport. Future research is needed to explore how athletes can overcome fears of self-compassion, and identify mechanisms that explain how self-compassion might contribute to flourishing in sport.Acknowledgments: Supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)