Self-Compassion Versus Self-Esteem for an Experience of Ostracism
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University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 1-1-2019 Self-Compassion Versus Self-Esteem for an Experience of Ostracism Russell S. Anderson University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Counseling Commons, and the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Anderson, Russell S., "Self-Compassion Versus Self-Esteem for an Experience of Ostracism" (2019). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1643. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1643 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. Self-Compassion versus Self-Esteem for an Experience of Ostracism _______________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Morgridge College of Education University of Denver _______________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy _______________ by Russell S. Anderson, M.S. August 2019 Advisor: Trisha Raque-Bogdan, Ph.D. Author: Russell S. Anderson, M.S. Title: Self-Compassion versus Self-Esteem for an Experience of Ostracism Advisor: Trisha Raque-Bogdan, Ph.D. Degree Date: August 2019 Abstract Self-compassion refers to an adaptive way of responding to the self when in distress and consists of three main components: mindfulness, common humanity, and self-kindness. Self-compassion offers a promising alternative to the construct of self- esteem for predicting and influencing responses to ostracism, a specific type of social exclusion in which an individual is ignored for unknown reasons. The present study examined the differential associations of trait self-compassion and trait self-esteem with attribution, emotion regulation, shame, and prosocial responses following an experience of ostracism using the Cyberball ostracism paradigm. Undergraduate participants (n = 219) completed trait self-esteem and trait self-compassion measures, experienced an online ostracism simulation using Cyberball, and then completed a measure of attribution for the ostracism experience, a measure of state emotion regulation strategies, and a measure of state shame. Subsequently, participants engaged in an inclusion trial of Cyberball to measure prosocial behavior. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that self-esteem and self-compassion positively predicted emotion reappraisal, but self- compassion did not significantly predict emotion acceptance. Neither self-compassion nor self-esteem predicted external attribution of the ostracism event, but both self- compassion and self-esteem positively predicted internal attribution of the ostracism. Furthermore, both self-compassion and self-esteem negatively predicted a shame response to ostracism, with self-compassion showing stronger negative predictive power ii of shame. Finally, neither self-compassion nor self-esteem significantly influenced participants’ prosocial response to ostracism. Results, limitations, and implications for clinical practice and research are discussed. iii Table of Contents Chapter I. Introduction…………………………………………..………………………...1 Social Exclusion…………………………………………………………………...3 Social Exclusion and Attribution………………....………………….…….4 Social Exclusion and Emotion Regulation…………………………….…..5 Social Exclusion and Shame…………………………………………….…8 Social Exclusion and Prosocial Response………………………..……….12 Social Exclusion and Self-Esteem……………………………………………….15 Self-Esteem and Attribution……………………………………………...16 Self-Esteem and Emotion Regulation…………………………….………17 Self-Esteem and Shame…………………………………….…………….19 Self-Esteem and Prosocial Behavior.………………………………….....20 Social Exclusion and Self-Compassion………………………………………….23 Self-Compassion and Attribution…………………………………….…..26 Self-Compassion and Emotion Regulation…………………………….…27 Self-Compassion and Shame…………………………………………......30 Self-Compassion and Prosocial Behavior.……………………………….32 Research Questions and Hypotheses…………………………………………….34 Chapter II. Methods……………………………………………………………………...39 Participants……………………………………………………...…….………….39 Procedure ..............................................................................................................43 Ostracism Manipulation………………………………………………….44 Manipulation Check……………………………………………………...45 Measures ................................................................................................................46 Demographics ............................................................................................46 Trait Self-Esteem .......................................................................................46 Self-Esteem Contingency...........................................................................47 Trait Self-Compassion ...............................................................................48 Attribution ..................................................................................................49 State Emotion Regulation ..........................................................................49 State Shame ................................................................................................50 Prosocial Response ....................................................................................51 Cyberball Familiarity .................................................................................54 Debriefing ..................................................................................................55 Chapter III: Results………………………………………….…………………………...57 Preliminary Analysis……………………………………….…………………….57 Missing Data Analysis……………………….…………………………..57 Outliers…………………………………………………………………...58 Assumptions Testing……………………………………………………..59 Statistical Procedure……………………………………………………………...61 Variable Modeling……………………………………………………….61 Bivariate Associations…………………………………………………...62 iv Hypothesis Tests…………………………………………………………66 Hypothesis 1……………………………………………………...66 Hypothesis 2……………………………………………………...68 Hypothesis 3……………………………………………………...69 Hypothesis 4……………………………………………………...70 Hypothesis 5……………………………………………………...71 Hypothesis 6……………………………………………………...73 Hypothesis 7……………………………………………………...74 Hypothesis 8a…………………………………………………….75 Hypothesis 8b…………………………………………………….76 Hypothesis 9a…………………………………………………….77 Hypothesis 9b…………………………………………………….78 Hypothesis 10…………………………………………………….79 Post-Hoc Analyses……………………………………………………….80 Self-Compassion versus Self-Esteem for Internal Attribution…...80 Self-Compassion versus Self-Esteem for Emotion Reappraisal….81 Internal Attribution as Mediator between Self-Compassion and Shame…………………………………………………….83 Internal Attribution as Mediator between Self-Esteem and Shame………………………………………………..…...84 Chapter IV: Discussion…………………………..………………………………………86 Self-Compassion and Demographic Variables……………………….…………..87 Self-Esteem and Demographic Variables…………………………….…………..89 Self-Esteem and Internal Attribution………………………………….………….91 Self-Compassion and Internal Attribution…………………………….………….93 Internal Attribution as a Mediator………………………………………..94 Self-Esteem, Self-Compassion, and External Attribution…………….………….96 Self-Esteem and Emotion Regulation………………………………….…………98 Self-Compassion and Emotion Regulation…………………………….…………99 Self-Esteem, Self-Compassion, and Shame ........................................................101 Self-Esteem, Self-Compassion, and Prosocial Response……………….………104 Clinical Implications of Findings…………………………………………….…105 Limitations ..........................................................................................................108 Future Research………………………………………….……………………...113 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................118 References……...…………...…………………………………………………………..120 v List of Tables Chapter II: Methods………….………………………...………………………………...39 Table 1: Demographic Characteristics of Participants…………………………...42 Table 2: Means, Standard Deviations, and Internal Consistencies of Measures….53 Chapter III: Results………………………………………………………………………57 Table 3: Missing Data by Participant…………………………………………….58 Table 4a: Bivariate Associations…………………….…………………………...64 Table 4b: Bivariate Associations for Reduced Dataset……..…………………….65 Table 5a: Hierarchical Regression for Emotion Acceptance………….………….67 Table 5b: Hierarchical Regression for Emotion Acceptance in Reduced Dataset……………………………………………………………………67 Table 6a: Hierarchical Regression for Emotion Reappraisal…………………….68 Table 6b: Hierarchical Regression for Emotion Reappraisal in Reduced Dataset……………………………………………....………...………….68 Table 7a: Hierarchical Regression for Shame………….………………………...70 Table 7b: Hierarchical Regression for Shame in Reduced Dataset…….………...70 Table 8a: Hierarchical Regression for Shame………………………………….....71 Table 8b: Hierarchical Regression for Shame in Reduced Dataset……………....71 Table 9a: Hierarchical Regression for Shame…………………………………….72 Table 9b: Hierarchical Regression for Shame in Reduced Dataset……………....72 Table 10a: Hierarchical Regression for Prosocial Behavior…..…………………74 Table 10b: Hierarchical Regression for Prosocial Behavior in Reduced Dataset…………………………………………………………………....74 Table 11a: Hierarchical Regression for Prosocial Behavior……………………..75 Table 11b: Hierarchical Regression for Prosocial Behavior in Reduced Dataset………………………………………………………………...….75 Table 12a: Hierarchical Regression for External Attribution…….………………76