Abstract
M.A. (Psychology)
Self-compassion is a healthy way of relating to oneself when considering personal failures, inadequacies or difficult life events. There are three interrelated components which comprise self-compassion: self-kindness versus self-judgement, common humanity versus isolation and mindfulness versus over-identification. Self-compassion has been related to many positive outcomes, yet little is known what contributes to individual differences in self-compassion. It has been suggested that self-compassion most likely originates from early relationships with primary caregivers. Therefore the parent-child relationship is important in understanding the development of self-compassion. Adolescence is a period marked by significant transformation and change, with the primary developmental task during this time being that of establishing an identity separate to one’s parents. It is therefore expected that the parent-child relationship will encounter significant changes during this time. Parent-child relationships are typically characterised by a particular style employed by the parent. Four parenting styles have been identified in the literature by combining two dimensions; namely, parental responsiveness, which refers to warmth, support, affection and acceptance, and parental demandingness which refers to control, rules and the limits placed on the child. The four parenting styles are consequently, authoritative, authoritarian, permissive and uninvolved.
The broad aim of this study was to examine the relationship between parenting style and self-compassion among adolescents, and to determine whether parenting style could predict self-compassion among a group of adolescents. To achieve this aim, a quantitative, cross sectional, survey design was implemented. The sample consisted of a group of adolescents from a school in Johannesburg, South Africa, (n = 188), with a mean age of 14.4 years. Neff’s (2003a) Self-Compassion Scale was employed to measure self-compassion and the...