TY - JOUR
T1 - The relationship of dispositional compassion with well-being
T2 - a study with a 15-year prospective follow-up
AU - Saarinen, Aino I.L.
AU - Keltikangas-Järvinen, Liisa
AU - Pulkki-Råback, Laura
AU - Cloninger, Claude Robert
AU - Elovainio, Marko
AU - Lehtimäki, Terho
AU - Raitakari, Olli
AU - Hintsanen, Mirka
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2020/11/1
Y1 - 2020/11/1
N2 - We investigated the associations of individual’s compassion for others with his/her affective and cognitive well-being over a long-term follow-up. We used data from the prospective Young Finns Study (N = 1312‒1699) between 1997‒2012. High compassion was related to higher indicators of affective well-being: higher positive affect (B = 0.221, p < .001), lower negative affect (B = −0.358, p < .001), and total score of affective well-being (the relationship of positive versus negative affect) (B = 0.345, p < .001). Moreover, high compassion was associated with higher indicators of cognitive well-being: higher social support (B = 0.194, p < .001), life satisfaction (B = 0.149, p < .001), subjective health (B = 0.094, p < .001), optimism (B = 0.307, p < .001), and total score of cognitive well-being (B = 0.265, p < .001). Longitudinal analyses showed that high compassion predicted higher affective well-being over a 15-year follow-up (B = 0.361, p < .001) and higher social support over a 10-year follow-up (B = 0.230, p < .001). Finally, compassion was more likely to predict well-being (B = [−0.076; 0.090]) than vice versa, even though the predictive relationships were rather modest by magnitude.
AB - We investigated the associations of individual’s compassion for others with his/her affective and cognitive well-being over a long-term follow-up. We used data from the prospective Young Finns Study (N = 1312‒1699) between 1997‒2012. High compassion was related to higher indicators of affective well-being: higher positive affect (B = 0.221, p < .001), lower negative affect (B = −0.358, p < .001), and total score of affective well-being (the relationship of positive versus negative affect) (B = 0.345, p < .001). Moreover, high compassion was associated with higher indicators of cognitive well-being: higher social support (B = 0.194, p < .001), life satisfaction (B = 0.149, p < .001), subjective health (B = 0.094, p < .001), optimism (B = 0.307, p < .001), and total score of cognitive well-being (B = 0.265, p < .001). Longitudinal analyses showed that high compassion predicted higher affective well-being over a 15-year follow-up (B = 0.361, p < .001) and higher social support over a 10-year follow-up (B = 0.230, p < .001). Finally, compassion was more likely to predict well-being (B = [−0.076; 0.090]) than vice versa, even though the predictive relationships were rather modest by magnitude.
KW - Compassion
KW - happiness
KW - longitudinal
KW - personality
KW - well-being
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85073789669&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/17439760.2019.1663251
DO - 10.1080/17439760.2019.1663251
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85073789669
SN - 1743-9760
VL - 15
SP - 806
EP - 820
JO - Journal of Positive Psychology
JF - Journal of Positive Psychology
IS - 6
ER -