The Correlation Between Self-Compassion and Life Satisfaction Varies Across Societal Individualism-Collectivism: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Self-compassion is positively correlated with life satisfaction. However, no previous work examined the cross-cultural difference regarding the effect size of this correlation. Using 79 independent samples ( N = 23,976) from 26 countries/regions, this three-level meta-analysis synthesized the effect sizes of their correlation, partitioned the between-study heterogeneity into the within- and between-country levels, and examined the moderating role of national culture according to the revised Minkov-Hofstede model. Results indicated that self-compassion was positively correlated with life satisfaction, with a moderate-to-large effect size (.40 ≤ r ≤ .47); 33.66% and 35.73% of the effect size variance could be attributed to the within-country and between-country heterogeneities; this correlation was stronger in samples collected from more individualistic societies. This study highlights that self-compassion may fit differently into different cultural realities and the importance of raising cultural awareness in future self-compassion research.