A Longitudinal and Within-Person Perspective on Self-Compassion and Internalizing Symptoms in Emerging Adults: The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation

Emerging adulthood (ages 18–25 years) is a period of increased vulnerability for mental health challenges. A potential protective factor is self-compassion, which is thought to promote better mental health through healthier emotion regulation capacities. However, longitudinal research on the associations among self-compassion, emotion regulation, and mental health is lacking. To address these gaps, a multi-wave within-person approach was used in this study. Participants included emerging adults ( N = 1125, Mage = 17.96 years) studying at a Canadian university. Random-intercept cross-lagged modelling demonstrated that within-person increases in common humanity predicted fewer depressive symptoms. Conversely, within-person increases in emotion regulation difficulties predicted more depressive symptoms over time, and vice versa. A mediation path from self-kindness to depressive symptoms via common humanity was also evident. Findings underscore the need for a more comprehensive examination of the dynamic interplay among self-compassion, emotion regulation, and mental health concerns while considering the multifaceted nature of self-compassion.