Self-Compassion, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation, and Cognitive Flexibility in Parent-Child Relationships in Türkiye: A Dyadic Longitudinal Study.

Résumé

Despite growing evidence of its role in individual well-being, little is known about how self-compassion influences parent-child interactions, particularly interpersonal and reciprocal processes. Integrative models that combine self-compassion, emotion regulation, and cognitive flexibility are needed to understand how these characteristics affect family dynamics. To cover theoretical and methodological gaps, this study analyzes longitudinal dyadic associations between self-compassion, emotion regulation difficulties, and cognitive flexibility in parent-child relationships. To this end, the Longitudinal Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (L-APIM) was employed as a dyadic analytic approach. The study sample comprised 248 adolescents and one of their parents (N = 496) residing in Türkiye. According to the analysis results, at the actor effects level, adolescents' self-compassion positively affects their cognitive flexibility, while parents' self-compassion negatively affects their own difficulties in emotion regulation. At the partner effects level, adolescents' self-compassion negatively affects their parents' difficulties in emotion regulation, while parents' self-compassion positively affects their children's cognitive flexibility. These results reveal that self-compassion has cognitive and emotional effects on the psychological functioning within the family and that an individual's internal resources play a decisive role not only for themselves but also for the psychological processes of family members with whom they have close relationships. These findings suggest that self-compassion intervention research should consider family psychological connections.