This study examined whether self-compassion could benefit daily physical symptoms and chronic illness in early and advanced old age. The hypotheses were evaluated in a 4-year longitudinal study of 264 older adults. Results showed that self-compassion predicted lower levels of daily physical symptoms across the study period in advanced, but not early, old age (T-ratio = −1.93, p = 0.05). In addition, self-compassion was associated with fewer increases in chronic illness in advanced, but not early, old age (T-ratio = − 2.45, p < 0.02). The results of this study suggest that self-compassion may be particularly adaptive towards the end of life.

这项研究检查了自我同情是否可以有益于早期和晚期的日常身体症状和慢性疾病。在对 264 名老年人进行的为期 4 年的纵向研究中评估了这些假设。结果表明，自我同情可以预测整个研究期间的日常身体症状水平较低，但不是早期的老年（T-ratio = -1.93，p = 0.05）。此外，自我同情与晚期慢性病的增加较少有关，但与早期老年人无关（T-ratio = − 2.45, p < 0.02）。这项研究的结果表明，自我同情可能特别适应生命的结束。