Title:
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Shame in adolescents : the relationship between shame and anger and the role of self compassion
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Background: Previous studies suggest there is a relationship between shame
and anger but findings are somewhat inconsistent. Research on self compassion is
still in its infancy but it has been suggested to be a protective factor for a number
of psychopathologies.
Objective: The primary objective of this study was to assess the relationship
between shame and anger in an adolescent sample and whether self compassion
was a moderator in this relationship. The study also aimed to further distinguish
between self compassion and self esteem by considering the former's relationship
to anger when controlling for the benefits of self esteem.
Method: The study adopted a quantitative, cross-sectional survey design. The
sample consisted of 145 young people aged between 14 and 17 years old.
Participants completed measures of shame, self compassion, anger, depression
and self esteem. Analysis was conducted using multiple regression.
Results: The analysis revealed that shame was a significant predictor of trait
anger and anger expression when controlling for self esteem and depression. Self
compassion was not found to be a moderator of the relationship between shame
and trait anger. Finally self compassion predicted unique variance in trait anger
when controlling for self esteem.
Discussion: Findings demonstrate an association between shame and anger that
could be explained by theories that suggest the painful experience of shame leads
to anger (Lewis, 1971). Self compassion was found to be highly correlated with
shame which may explain the non significant moderator finding. Self compassion
appears to better predict lower levels of anger possibly due to its non evaluative
nature. This study is limited by its methodology as casual assumptions cannot be
inferred.
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