How Does Self-Compassion Interact with Depression and Anxiety Among Old People?: Evidence from Cross-Lagged Panel Network Analysis

Background: Self-compassion has gained researchers’ attention in recent years, yet up to now there is no evidence concerning how the six different components of self-compassion interact with mental health, such as depression and anxiety in older people. The network analysis provided approaches to investigate such detailed associations among those variables in a more meticulous way. The current study aimed to model a cross-lagged network of components of self-compassion, depression and anxiety with longitudinal data to unveil their temporal relationships among seniors.Methods: A sample of 345 community-dwelling elderly individuals (mean age = 83.81, 44.9% male) in Nanjing, China were assessed with the Self-compassion Scale and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 three times with an interval of 6 months in between. Two cross-lagged panel networks were examined to model the temporal associations among elements of self-compassion, depression and anxiety.Results: The T1-T2 Network yielded 2 notable cross-lagged edges while the T2-T3 Network yielded 5 notable edges. Centrality analysis identified depression to be the most influential in both networks, while common humanity and over-identification showed a high inclination of both influencing and being influenced by other variables in the two networks.Conclusions: The study provided some evidence for the tendency for these elements of self-compassion to covary, but also found an unusually positive relationship between the positive part of self-compassion and anxiety, highlighting the necessity of future studies to replicate those relationships. The high influence of depression in the two networks and the complicated role of common humanity and over-identification also need further exploration into their mechanisms.