INTRODUCTION Interpersonal strain is linked with depressive symptoms in middle-aged adults. One possible mechanism accounting for this relation is a reduction in hope, defined as the belief in one's capacity both to reach and to generate a variety of ways to obtain goals. The strength of the strain-depressive symptoms relation is not uniform across individuals, however, pointing to the likelihood that individual differences in the ability to successfully navigate relationship strain play a role in mitigating its negative effects. One potential moderator of the strain - depressive symptoms relation is self-compassion, which encompasses the capacity to respond to one's own negative thoughts and experiences in a kind and nonjudgmental way. Although theory and empirical evidence suggest that self-compassion is protective against the impact of stress on mental health outcomes, little research has investigated how self-compassion operates in the context of relationship strain. In addition, few studies have examined psychological mechanisms by which self-compassion protects against mental health outcomes, depression in particular. Thus, this study examined 1) the extent to which hope mediates the relation between family strain and depressive symptoms, and 2) whether these indirect effects are conditional on self-compassion in a community sample of middle-aged adults. METHODS Self-reported family strain, self-compassion, hope, and depressive symptoms were assessed in a community sample of 762 middle-aged adults aged 40-65. Follow-up measures of depressive symptoms were assessed approximately 20 months later. RESULTS Results from structural equation models indicated that hope mediated the relation between family strain and depressive symptoms and the indirect effect was conditional on levels of self-compassion. For individuals high versus low in self-compassion, strain-related declines in hope predicted smaller increases in depressive symptoms. DISCUSSION Taken together, the findings suggest that family strain may lead individuals to experience less hope and subsequent increases in depressive symptoms. However, a self-compassionate attitude may serve as a resilience resource, weakening the hope - depressive symptoms relation, a finding that holds promise for future research on the development and refinement of self-compassion interventions.

中文翻译：

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家庭压力预示着中年人随后出现抑郁症状：希望调解，自我同情调节这种关系。


简介 人际紧张与中年人的抑郁症状有关。解释这种关系的一种可能机制是希望的减少，希望的定义是相信一个人有能力实现并产生多种方式来实现目标。然而，紧张与抑郁症状关系的强度在个体之间并不统一，这表明成功应对关系紧张的能力的个体差异可能在减轻其负面影响方面发挥了作用。压力与抑郁症状关系的一个潜在调节因素是自我同情，它包括以一种友善和非评判的方式应对自己的消极想法和经历的能力。尽管理论和经验证据表明，自我慈悲可以防止压力对心理健康结果的影响，但很少有研究调查自我慈悲在关系紧张的背景下如何发挥作用。此外，很少有研究探讨自我慈悲可以预防心理健康后果（尤其是抑郁症）的心理机制。因此，本研究考察了 1）希望在多大程度上介导家庭紧张和抑郁症状之间的关系，以及 2）这些间接影响是否以中年社区样本的自我同情为条件。方法 对 762 名 40-65 岁中年人的社区样本进行自我报告的家庭紧张、自我同情、希望和抑郁症状评估。大约 20 个月后对抑郁症状的后续测量进行评估。 结果结构方程模型的结果表明，希望介导了家庭紧张和抑郁症状之间的关系，而间接影响则取决于自我慈悲的水平。对于自我慈悲程度高和低的个体来说，与压力相关的希望下降预示着抑郁症状的增加幅度较小。讨论 综上所述，研究结果表明，家庭压力可能会导致个人的希望减少，并随后导致抑郁症状增加。然而，自我同情的态度可能会成为一种复原力资源，削弱希望与抑郁症状的关系，这一发现为未来发展和完善自我同情干预措施的研究带来了希望。