Self-compassion, depressive symptoms, and well-being: A cross-sectional exploration across athlete status and gender

Self-compassion is associated with positive mental health outcomes and may buffer against negative self-evaluations and emotional difficulties. Nevertheless, studies among athletes often explore self-compassion in specific groups in isolation (e.g., women athletes) (Röthlin et al., 2019). The aims of this study were to 1) explore whether the relationship between gender and composite scores and specific dimensions of self-compassion (e.g., self-judgement) was moderated by athlete status; and 2) to explore the relationship between different dimensions of self-compassion and self-reported depressive symptoms and well-being among team sport athletes ( n = 84, M age = 22.9 ± 5.0; 57.1 %men) and non-athletes ( n = 189, M age = 35.5 ± 5.9; 32.8 %men). For our first aim, the relationship between gender and self-compassion (including specific dimensions) was not moderated by athlete status. However, regardless of gender, athletes reported significantly higher total self-compassion scores and significantly lower scores on specific dimensions of self-compassion, isolation, and over-identification, than non-athletes. For our second aim, self-judgement was positively associated with depressive symptoms in both athletes and non-athletes. Self-judgment was, however, negatively associated with well-being only among athletes, and isolation was negatively correlated with well-being only among non-athletes. Our results suggest that reducing self-judgement may be particularly important for promoting athletes’ mental health