Publication Date: 2024
Current Psychology (19364733)43(20)pp. 18404-18414
The purpose of this study was to investigate Iranian women’s experiences of the consequences of self-compassion as an intrapersonal source in marital relationships.The descriptive-interpretive qualitative method was adopted in this study. In the first step, we used the self-compassion scale to select a sample of 15 women (Mean Age = 47.66 years, SD = 2.46 years). In the second step, semi-structured interviews were conducted and data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings of this study suggested that self-compassion can bring cognitive, emotional, and behavioral resources to women in a marital relationship. Based on thematic analysis, the experiences of compassionate women in marital relationships were classified into three main themes and nine sub-themes: favorable behaviors (forgiveness, respect, and empathy), cognitive resources (optimism, cognitive emotion regulation, acceptance of own and partner imperfections), and positive feelings and emotions (happiness, safeness, satisfaction). Results imply that self-compassion may involve a set of positive intrapersonal self-resources containing a plethora of cognitive, affective, and behavioral benefits that may help achieve, maintain, and consolidate interpersonal relationships such as marital relationships. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2024.
