ABSTRACT Perseverative coping refers to the continued use of an ineffective strategy or reimplementation of a strategy that had been abandoned. Self‐compassion refers to being supportive of oneself when experiencing suffering. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying the association between self‐compassion and depressive symptoms. In stress research, self‐compassion can be regarded as a coping resource that influences coping strategy selection, while coping affects depressive symptoms (i.e., stress response). This study aimed to examine the hypothesis that perseverative coping mediates the relationship between self‐compassion and depressive symptoms. The participants were 303 Japanese college students who completed questionnaires on self‐compassion, perseverative coping and depressive symptoms. Eight months later, they completed a questionnaire exclusively on depressive symptoms. Structural equation modelling analyses revealed that higher levels of perseverative coping mediated the association between lower levels of self‐compassion and greater depressive symptoms. This result was consistent with the predictions of a typical psychological stress model (i.e., transactional stress model). Our findings suggest that the stress model contributes to our understanding of the role of higher levels of self‐compassion in decreasing depressive symptoms.
Tsukasa Kato (Sun,) studied this question.