External shame and its association with depression and anxiety: the moderating role of self-compassion

ABSTRACT

Objective: The self-focused emotion of shame has been implicated in risk for psychopathology. However, this risk might be reduced by using emotion regulation strategies. To better understand the factors influencing emotion regulation and well-being in Australian university students, the current study investigated the relationships between external shame, a perception of judgement and negative evaluation from others, and core symptoms associated with psychopathology. The current study also explored whether self-compassion moderated these relationships.

Methods: Australian university students (N = 392) ranging in age from 18 to 55 years old (M = 23.60) completed questionnaires assessing trait external shame, self-compassion, and the psychopathology dimensions of depression, anxiety, and stress.

Results: There were strong positive associations between external shame and the core dimensions of psychopathology, along with strong negative associations between these variables and self-compassion. Self-compassion moderated the relationship between external shame and psychopathology in relation to depression and anxiety symptoms, but these findings were not replicated for stress.

Conclusions: The results have advanced our understanding of the experience of self-relevant emotional distress and core symptoms of psychopathology among Australian university students and have revealed that self-compassion may provide a way to regulate the negative affectivity associated with external shame in this context.

Key Points

What is already known about this topic:

• (1)Shame follows evaluations of perceived failure and is associated with avoidant emotion regulation techniques and psychopathology.

• (2)Self-compassion activates the soothing emotion regulation system which can encourage more measured processing of negative self-relevant events.

• (3)External shame is emerging as a higher risk for psychopathology than internal shame or shame-proneness; both of which have been the predominant focus of enquiry to date.

What this topic adds:

• (1)Higher self-compassion reduced the strength of the external shame-anxiety and external shame-depression relationships in Australian university students.

• (2)Self-compassion may be an effective emotion regulation strategy to reduce the aversive effects of external shame on the severity of depression and anxiety symptomatology.

• (3)Self-compassion could be a way to regulate the negative affectivity associated with perceptions of external shame.

KEYWORDS:

• Anxiety
• depression
• external shame
• psychopathology
• self-compassion
• stress

Disclosure of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.