Background Studies of the value of compassion on physical and mental health and social relationships have proliferated in the last 25 years. Although, there are several conceptualisations and measures of compassion, this study develops three new measures of compassion competencies derived from an evolutionary, motivational approach. The scales assess 1. the compassion we experience for others, 2. the compassion we experience from others, and 3. self-compassion based on a standard definition of compassion as a ‘sensitivity to suffering in self and others with a commitment to try to alleviate and prevent it’. We explored these in relationship to other compassion scales, self-criticism, depression, anxiety, stress and well-being. Methods Participants from three different countries (UK, Portugal and USA) completed a range of scales including compassion for others, self-compassion, self-criticism, shame, depression, anxiety and stress with the newly developed ‘The Compassionate Engagement and Actions’ scale. Results All three scales have good validity. Interestingly, we found that the three orientations of compassion are only moderately correlated to one another (r < .5). We also found that some elements of self-compassion (e.g., being sensitive to, and moved by one’s suffering) have a complex relationship with other attributes of compassion (e.g., empathy), and with depression, anxiety and stress. A path-analysis showed that self-compassion is a significant mediator of the association between self-reassurance and well-being, while self-criticism has a direct effect on depressive symptoms, not mediated by self-compassion. Discussion Compassion evolved from caring motivation and in humans is associated with a range of different socially intelligent competencies. Understanding how these competencies can be inhibited and facilitated is an important research endeavour. These new scales were designed to assess these competencies. Conclusions This is the first study to measure the three orientations of compassion derived from an evolutionary model of caring motivation with specified competencies. Our three new measures of compassion further indicate important complex relationships between different potentiation’s of compassion, well-being, and vulnerability to psychopathologies.

Background: During the last years, there has been a growing interest in self‐compassion. Empirical evidences show that self‐compassion is associated with psychological benefits among young adults and it might be considered a buffer factor in several mental disorders.Aims: The aim of this study was to validate the psychometric properties of the Self‐compassion Scale (SCS: Neff, 2003a) after the initial lack of replicating the original six‐factor structure.Method: Data were collected from the overall database of a research centre (56 men and 305 women; mean age = 25.19) and comprised four groups: borderline personality disorder, anxiety disorder, eating disorder and general population.Results: Confirmatory factor analysis supported a two‐factor model (self‐compassionate attitude versus self‐critical attitude) with good internal consistencies, construct‐related validity and external validity. Configural, weak measurement and structural invariance of the two‐factor model of SCS were also shown.Conclusions: Findings support the generalizability of the two‐factor model and show that both properties and interpretations of scores on self‐compassion are equivalent across these population groups. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Key Practitioner Message: A two‐factor structure of SCS with strong psychometric validity was supported in clinical and non‐clinical samples. Helping individuals with limited experiences of compassion to develop positive internal processing systems seems to be related with better mental health, self‐acceptance and self‐nurturing abilities. The non‐probabilistic sampling limits the generalization of our conclusions.

We investigated the differences in sexual beliefs presented by men and women with sexual dysfunction and their sexually functional counterparts. A total of 488 participants (160 females and 232 males without sexual problems; 47 females and 49 males with a DSM‐IV diagnosis of sexual dysfunction) answered the Sexual Dysfunctional Beliefs Questionnaire. Findings showed that, although effects have only reached statistical significance for the female group, both dysfunctional men and women endorsed more sexually dysfunctional beliefs than functional beliefs. Women presented significantly more age‐related beliefs (e.g., after menopause women lose their sexual desire; as women age, the pleasure they get from sex decreases) and body image beliefs (women who are not physically attractive can't be sexually satisfied). Additionally, sexually dysfunctional males presented higher scores (not statistically significant) on “macho” belief (a real man has sexual intercourse very often) and beliefs about women's satisfaction (the quality of the erection is what most satisfies women). Overall, findings supported the idea that sexual beliefs play a role as vulnerability factors for sexual dysfunction.