title: Attachment, self-compassion, empathy, and subjective well-being among college students and community adults.
abstract: Research on subjective well-being suggests that it is only partly a function of environmental circumstances. There may be a personality characteristic or a resilient disposition toward experiencing high levels of well-being even in unfavorable circumstances. Adult attachment may contribute to this resilient disposition. This study examined whether the association between attachment anxiety and subjective well-being was mediated by Neff's (2003a, 2003b) concept of self-compassion. It also examined empathy toward others as a mediator in the association between attachment avoidance and subjective well-being. In Study 1, 195 college students completed self-report surveys. In Study 2, 136 community adults provided a cross-validation of the results. As expected, across these 2 samples, findings suggested that self-compassion mediated the association between attachment anxiety and subjective well-being, and emotional empathy toward others mediated the association between attachment avoidance and subjective well-being.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, W112 Lagomarcino Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-3180, USA. wei@iastate.edu
authors.forename: Meifen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Kelly Yu-Hsin
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Tsun-Yao
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Ku
authors.forename: Phillip A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Shaffer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012649:Self Concept; D057566:Self Report; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires