Self-compassion statistics show consistent relationships between a kinder response to personal difficulty and lower distress across several measured populations. The figures below come from study samples rather than a single worldwide estimate, so the scales, countries, dates, and participant groups matter when interpreting them.
Contents
- Self-compassion in general-population adults
- Links with depression, anxiety, and stress
- Students and emerging adults
- Pregnancy and physical health
- Helping professionals and employees
- What interventions measured
Self-compassion in general-population adults
A 2015 study of German adults compared people without depressive symptoms with adults meeting study definitions for another depressive syndrome or probable major depressive disorder. On the total Self-Compassion Scale, the group without depressive symptoms averaged 3.47 (SD 0.40; n=959). The other depressive-syndrome group averaged 3.02 (SD 0.46; n=78), while the probable major-depressive-disorder group averaged 2.74 (SD 0.48; n=50). These are study-sample means, not population-wide diagnostic thresholds. The Role of Self-Compassion in Buffering Symptoms of Depression in the General Population reports the comparison.
The component scores help show what moved with depressive symptoms. The study reported the following means:
| Self-compassion component | No depressive symptoms | Other depressive syndrome | Probable major depressive disorder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-kindness | 3.01 | 2.72 | 2.74 |
| Common humanity | 2.88 | 2.97 | 2.70 |
| Mindfulness | 3.12 | 3.02 | 2.72 |
| Self-judgment | 2.10 | 2.77 | 3.07 |
| Isolation | 1.99 | 3.05 | 3.40 |
| Over-identification | 2.08 | 2.95 | 3.22 |
| Self-coldness composite | 2.06 | 2.91 | 3.22 |
The pattern is not simply that every positive component falls by the same amount. Self-kindness was 3.01 in the group without depressive symptoms and 2.74 in the probable-major-depression group. Mindfulness moved from 3.12 to 2.72. At the same time, self-judgment rose from 2.10 to 3.07, isolation from 1.99 to 3.40, and over-identification from 2.08 to 3.22. The self-coldness composite therefore rose from 2.06 to 3.22 across those two groups.
Links with depression, anxiety, and stress
Correlations describe relationships within a sample; they do not establish that self-compassion caused a symptom change. In a 2022 study of 87 adolescents aged 12–18, total youth self-compassion correlated with anxiety at r=-0.52 and depression at r=-0.65 after controlling for gender. The negative values indicate that higher measured self-compassion occurred alongside fewer reported symptoms in that sample. Self-Compassion Correlates of Anxiety and Depression Symptoms in Youth presents these results.
The same adolescent study reported that compassionate self-responding correlated with anxiety at r=-0.36 and depression at r=-0.54. Self-kindness correlated with anxiety at r=-0.44 and depression at r=-0.65, while mindfulness correlated with anxiety at r=-0.37 and depression at r=-0.46. The corresponding uncompassionate pattern was positive: uncompassionate self-responding correlated with anxiety at r=0.55 and depression at r=0.60.
Two specific uncompassionate components also showed positive associations. Self-judgment correlated with anxiety at r=0.45 and depression at r=0.52. Isolation correlated with anxiety at r=0.45 and depression at r=0.46. Regression models using two adolescent self-compassion measures explained 24%–32% of anxiety-symptom variance and 33%–44% of depression-symptom variance. Those percentages describe the models in this 2022 study sample, not the share of symptoms explained for every adolescent.
Among Portuguese higher-education students, a 2023 study found self-compassion correlated with stress at r=-0.53, anxiety at r=-0.41, and depression at r=-0.55 (n=241; p<0.001 for each). In that same correlation table, anxiety and depression correlated at r=0.71, anxiety and stress at r=0.80, and stress and depression at r=0.75. Mediation of Self-Compassion on Pathways from Stress and Anxiety to Depression identifies the Portuguese higher-education sample and its measurements.
Students and emerging adults
Student results vary by scale and outcome. In a 2025 study sample of 782 higher-education students, mean self-compassion was 3.6 (SD 0.8) on the study’s reported scale. Self-compassion correlated with study credits at r=0.10 (p<0.01) and with student GPA at r=0.16 (p<0.001). These are small positive correlations, so they should not be read as evidence that self-compassion alone determines academic achievement.
In the same 782-student sample, self-compassion correlated with exhaustion at r=-0.22, cynicism at r=-0.25, and inadequacy at r=-0.20. The source, Self-criticism unveiled: Its interplay with burnout and self-compassion in higher education students’ study achievement, reports the study sample and its 2025 measurement period.
Together, the student findings point in two directions that can coexist. Self-compassion had modest positive associations with credits and GPA in the 782-student sample, while its negative associations with exhaustion, cynicism, and inadequacy were somewhat larger. The Portuguese student study also found strong positive relationships among stress, anxiety, and depression, alongside negative relationships between self-compassion and each of those symptoms. Different samples and instruments mean the coefficients should not be pooled into one overall student estimate.
Pregnancy and physical health
An early-pregnancy study measured 153 women at 6+0 to 7+6 weeks of pregnancy. Ninety-eight women (64%) were in the minimum anxiety category, 39 (25%) in the mild category, 9 (6%) in the moderate category, and 7 (5%) in the severe category. In the same sample, 41 women (27%) were above the depression cutoff and 112 (73%) were below it. Self-Compassion, Mindfulness and Coping in Relation to Psychological Symptoms in Pregnant Women in the First Trimester reports these early-pregnancy measurements.
Self-compassion in that sample correlated with anxiety at r=-0.44, depression at r=-0.45, and stress at r=-0.53 (p<0.01). In prediction models, self-compassion predicted anxiety at β=-0.26, depression at β=-0.35, and stress at β=-0.40, with p<0.001 for each. The study design and supplied figures do not justify treating those coefficients as causal effects or as universal pregnancy estimates.
Physical-health samples used different total scales. Among 214 adult cancer inpatients after chemotherapy, mean self-compassion was 80.07 (SD 15.68) on the total scale, and mean treatment adherence was 134.44 (SD 38.37) on the Modanloo questionnaire. Self-compassion had a significant direct relationship with treatment adherence (p<0.05). Self-Compassion and Adherence to Treatment in Patients with Cancer reports the 2019 cancer-patient data.
Among 208 Thai breast-cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, mean self-compassion was 76.00 (SD 23.65) on a 26–130 scale, and mean stress was 18.95 (SD 11.24) on a 0–40 scale. Because the scale and range differ from the cancer-inpatient measure above, the two means should not be treated as directly comparable. The Thai findings are reported in Factors Predicting Self-Compassion among Patients with Breast Cancer Undergoing Chemotherapy in Thailand, a 2023 study sample.
Helping professionals and employees
Among 293 midwives and nurse assistants in a 2022 cross-sectional study, self-criticism correlated with self-kindness at r=-0.465 (p<0.001). Self-kindness correlated with compassion satisfaction at r=0.355 (p<0.001). It also correlated with compassion fatigue at r=-0.233 (p<0.01; n=278), while self-criticism correlated with compassion fatigue at r=0.415 (p<0.001; n=283). The differing n values reflect the reported analyses. Self-compassion and Professional Quality of Life among Midwives and Nurse Assistants supplies these estimates.
A Swedish employee randomized controlled trial assigned 49 employees to compassion training (n=25) or a physical-exercise control (n=24). Over three months, stress decreased across groups with Cohen’s d=-0.46, while mental ill-health changed with d=0.33 across groups. Self-compassion increased only in the intervention group, with between-group d=0.53 (p=0.03). The trial is described in Cultivating Compassion and Reducing Stress and Mental Ill-Health in Employees, a 2021 intervention study.
In a U.S. trial conducted from September–December 2022, baseline self-compassion among 1,017 women physician trainees averaged 31.6 (SD 7.3) on the short-form scale. The coaching intervention increased self-compassion by 5.27 points versus 1.36 points in controls; the adjusted difference was 3.91 (95% CI 2.73–5.08; p<0.001). Flourishing improved by 0.48 versus 0.09 points, with an adjusted difference of 0.38 (95% CI 0.17–0.60; p<0.001). Online Well-Being Group Coaching Program for Women Physician Trainees reports the trial results.
What interventions measured
Intervention studies provide change estimates, but they use different programs, comparison groups, follow-up periods, and scales. In a 2014 ACT randomized trial, the self-compassion time-by-condition interaction had effect size 0.74 (p<0.001). From pretest to follow-up, self-compassion improved with effect size 1.54 in ACT versus 0.48 in a waitlist; the ACT-versus-waitlist difference was 1.06 (p<0.001). General psychological distress improved with effect size 1.03 in ACT versus 0.52 in the waitlist. Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to Increase Self-Compassion reports the 2014 intervention study.
In a 2017 mindfulness-based stress-reduction study of 52 breast-cancer patients, mean self-compassion rose from 3.2 (SD 0.7) to 3.6 (SD 0.7), p<0.001, with a standardized treatment effect of d=0.60. The same study reported wellbeing rising from 51.9 (SD 7.0) to 54.0 (SD 7.2), p=0.028; psychological distress falling from 12.6 (SD 6.2) to 10.2 (SD 6.2), p=0.003; emotional functioning rising from 69.6 (SD 17.3) to 75.9 (SD 15.7), p=0.014; and physical functioning rising from 84.5 (SD 12.1) to 88.0 (SD 11.0), p=0.031. These changes are from the 2017 intervention sample described in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Breast Cancer Patients.
Across the employee, physician-trainee, ACT, and breast-cancer studies, the measured outcomes include self-compassion, distress, stress, flourishing, wellbeing, and functioning. The figures support a practical reading: self-compassion was measurable and changeable in these study settings, while the size and meaning of change depended on the population, instrument, intervention, and comparison design.