Healthy ways of relating to past, present, and future self: Narrated growth and self-compassion with well-being and future orientation

Abstract

This project addressed two aspects of personality linked adjustment and the good life: self-compassion and narrative growth. Using a college sample of 288 young adults (M age = 18.4 years; 68.6 % women), we collected a set of self-defining life stories and rated life stories for personal growth. We also collected endorsements of self-compassion, well-being, and future orientation. We found that growth and self-compassion were positively linked and had positive, incremental associations with well-being and future orientation. Further, people relatively higher in self-compassion and relatively lower in growth endorsed the highest well-being and future orientation at one-month follow-up. Evidence suggests that nuanced considerations across multiple measures of personality help provide more thorough views of adjustment and fulfillment in people’s lives.