A daily diary study of the relationships among daily self‐compassion, perceived stress and health‐promoting behaviours

Previous studies consistently found that trait self‐compassion is positively associated with health‐promoting behaviours, and perceived stress mediates the relationship. The current study primarily aimed at examining whether state self‐compassion varying from day to day (daily self‐compassion) played the same role as trait self‐compassion in improving health‐promoting behaviours and whether or not perceived stress would be the mediator in this relationship. Eighty‐nine Chinese employees were recruited to finish demographic information and the trait measure of self‐compassion first, and then finish daily diaries for seven consecutive days. Daily diary measures included daily self‐compassion, perceived stress and health‐promoting behaviours including both eating behaviours and exercise behaviours. The results of 1‐1‐1 multilevel mediation analyses showed that, at both the within‐ and between‐person level, daily self‐compassion could positively predict daily eating behaviour through the reduction of perceived stress. However, daily self‐compassion did not influence exercise behaviour at both levels. The results of 2‐1‐1 multilevel mediation analyses cross‐validated the between‐person relationships in the 1‐1‐1 multilevel mediation models. These results suggest that, both short‐term interventions aiming at increasing state self‐compassion and long‐term interventions aiming at increasing trait self‐compassion can benefit one's eating behaviours through the reduction of stress.