Validation of the Psychometric Properties of the Self-Compassion Scale. Testing the Factorial Validity and Factorial Invariance of the Measure among Borderline Personality Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Eating Disorder and General Populations.
BACKGROUND
During the last years, there has been a growing interest in self-compassion. Empirical evidences show that self-compassion is associated with psychological benefits among young adults and it might be considered a buffer factor in several mental disorders.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to validate the psychometric properties of the Self-compassion Scale (SCS: Neff, 2003a) after the initial lack of replicating the original six-factor structure.


METHODS
Data were collected from the overall database of a research centre (56 men and 305 women; mean age = 25.19) and comprised four groups: borderline personality disorder, anxiety disorder, eating disorder and general population.


RESULTS
Confirmatory factor analysis supported a two-factor model (self-compassionate attitude versus self-critical attitude) with good internal consistencies, construct-related validity and external validity. Configural, weak measurement and structural invariance of the two-factor model of SCS were also shown.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings support the generalizability of the two-factor model and show that both properties and interpretations of scores on self-compassion are equivalent across these population groups. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


CONCLUSIONS
A two-factor structure of SCS with strong psychometric validity was supported in clinical and non-clinical samples. Helping individuals with limited experiences of compassion to develop positive internal processing systems seems to be related with better mental health, self-acceptance and self-nurturing abilities. The non-probabilistic sampling limits the generalization of our conclusions.
CINEICC, Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação, Universidade de Coimbra Rua do Colégio Novo, Coimbra, Portugal. joanascosta@hotmail.com.
Joana
J
Costa
Unidade de Investigação em, Psicologia e Saúde (UIPES), ISPA-IU, Lisbon, Portugal.
João
J
Marôco
CINEICC, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
José
J
Pinto-Gouveia
CINEICC, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Cláudia
C
Ferreira
CINEICC, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Paula
P
Castilho
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D004645:Empathy; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult
Factorial Invariance; Self-compassionate Attitude; Self-critical Attitude; Two-factor Model