Self-compassion in sport: a scoping review

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sport is a domain that is rife with loss, failures, and disappointment. Self-compassion – the recognition of one’s own suffering and a desire to alleviate it – offers protection against maladaptive psychological experiences in sport. The purpose of this scoping review was to update and expand the results of the review by Röthlin and colleagues ([2019]. Go soft or go home? A scoping review of empirical studies on the role of self-compassion in the competitive sport setting. Current Issues in Sport Science, 4, Article 013. https://doi.org/10.15203/CISS_2019.013), and to identify new themes to help guide future research. Sixty-nine publications were identified using a variety of search strategies. Quantitative research (62.3%) and cross-sectional designs (83.3%) were most common, and most research was conducted by researchers residing in Westernized countries (81.2%). The majority of study participants (n = 10,025) were collegiate athletes (42.1%), and female/women sport participants were sampled slightly more frequently (52.4%). Researchers often investigated sex- or gender-based and competition level differences in self-compassion scores. Other common areas of research focus included well-being, mindfulness, striving for excellence, overcoming setbacks, negative thoughts and emotions, and self-criticism. New research areas that were identified included a need for theory, additional efforts towards conceptualization and measurement, acknowledgement of participant selection bias, integrating intersectionality, the relationship between self-compassion and performance, the distinctiveness between self-compassion and mindfulness, and future directions for interventions.