What does this research mean for the field?

Self-compassion has both direct and indirect effects on health behaviors, partially mediated by stress reduction, leading to increased health-promoting behaviors and decreased health-risk behaviors. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.SYNTHESIS. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To systematically evaluate the associations between self-compassion, perceived stress, and both health-promoting and health-risk behaviours in adult populations.

August 27, 2026Health Psychology ReviewOpen Access

Self-compassion, stress and health behaviour: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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Authors

JLJinyi LiuArmy Medical University MCMark ConnerUniversity of Leeds OLOlga LainidiUniversity of Leeds

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Implication

Meta-analysis demonstrates that self-compassion reduces stress and improves health behaviours in adults, suggesting psychological stress partially mediates these lifestyle benefits.

Key Points

To systematically evaluate the associations between self-compassion, perceived stress, and both health-promoting and health-risk behaviours in adult populations.
Searched PsycINFO, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and CINAHL databases, identifying 10,444 initial records.
Synthesized data from 19 eligible studies comprising 9,660 adult participants using meta-analytic, meta-regression, and mediation analyses.
Self-compassion correlated positively with health-promoting behaviours (r = .23) and negatively with stress (r = -.51) and health-risk behaviours (r = -.19).
Stress correlated positively with health-risk behaviours (r = .17) and negatively with health-promoting behaviours (r = -.34).
Mediation analysis revealed that stress partially mediated the effects of self-compassion on health behaviours, with meta-regression showing no significant moderation by age, gender, measure reliability, or study duration.

Cite This Study

Liu et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a8fe99e10c91c1e92621650 https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2026.2701279

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Implication

Meta-analysis demonstrates that self-compassion reduces stress and improves health behaviours in adults, suggesting psychological stress partially mediates these lifestyle benefits.

Self-compassion, stress and health behaviour: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Self-compassion, stress and health behaviour: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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