Self-Compassion and Psychological Resilience in Older Adults

Abstract

The objective of the present study to determine whether there is a relationship between self-compassion and psychological resilience in older adults living with families and those living in old age homes. The present study also aimed to find whether there is a difference between older adults living with families and those living in old age homes with respect to self-compassion and psychological resilience. A purposive sampling technique was employed to select the sample of 60 participants (30 living in old age homes and 30 living with their families) between the age group of 60-75year. The Self-Compassion Scale(Neff, 2003) and Brief Resilience Scale(Smith et al., 2008) were administered to the participants. The results indicated that there was a significant relationship between overall self-compassion and resilience among older adults living in old age homes as well as among those living with their families. Further analysis showed that there was a significant relationship between resilience and the dimensions of self-kindness, common humanity, mindfulness, and isolation among older adults living with their families. Moreover, significant correlations were observed between resilience and the dimensions of common humanity, self-judgement, isolation and over-identification among older adults living in old age homes. The results of the present study also reported that there were significant differences between the older adults living with their families and those living in old age homes with respect to self-compassion and the dimensions of self-kindness, common humanity and mindfulness. Based on these findings it may be suggested that recovery, sustained purpose and growth, which are the hallmarks of resilience, combined with self-compassion adds to well-being in old age.