Table 4.
Mean differences of low and high self-compassion on physiological stress reactivity to TSST during the preparatory phase, speech, and math tasks in a sample of male and female adolescents age 13–18 (n = 28)
| Mean (SD) [Median]
|
t statistic [z statistic] | Hedge’s g (95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LSC (n = 12) | HSC (n = 16) | |||
| ΔSBP (prep) | 15.34 (6.16) | 10.14 (8.75) | 1.76 | 0.65 [−0.10, 1.40] |
| ΔSBP (speech) | 25.74 (8.52) | 18.66 (10.53) | 1.91 | 0.71 [−0.04, 1.46] |
| ΔSBP (math) | 20.10 (8.93) | 16.26 (11.40) | 0.96 | 0.36 [−0.38, 1.09] |
| ΔDBP (prep) | 9.80 (3.91) | 7.79 (6.20) | 0.98 | 0.41 [−0.32, 1.15] |
| ΔDBP (speech) | 14.97 (5.08) [13.67] | 14.29 (5.64) [12.64] | 0.47 [0.53] | 0.17 [−0.55, 0.90] |
| ΔDBP (math) | 12.69 (4.84) | 11.12 (6.30) | 0.72 | 0.27 [−0.46, 1.00] |
| ΔHR (prep) | 17.98 (13.39) [14.14] | 14.77 (11.85) [12.05] | 0.32 [0.50] | 0.13 [−0.64, 0.88] |
| ΔHR (speech) | 17.77 (14.63) [9.57] | 17.98 (15.55) [15.19] | 0.04 [−0.325] | 0.01 [−0.71, 0.74] |
| ΔHR (math) | 19.41 (14.78) [16.29] | 16.92 (15.25) [12.12] | 0.38 [0.418] | 0.14 [−0.59, 0.87] |
| Cortisol (AUCi) | 1.16 (2.34) [0.05] | 0.43 (1.07) [0.12] | 0.31 [0.51] | 0.12 [−0.61, 0.84] |
| RSA (prep-baseline) | −0.78 (0.61) [−0.79] | −0.63 (1.01) [−0.40] | −0.45 [−1.11] | 0.17 [−1.04, 0.71] |
| RSA (recovery-prep) | 0.68 (0.55) [0.51] | 0.55 (0.86) [0.30] | −0.47 [0.98] | 0.17 [−0.63, 0.98] |
| RSA (recovery-baseline) | −0.10 (0.39) [−0.23] | −0.08 (0.49) [−0.10] | −0.09 [0.23] | 0.03 [−0.80, 0.74] |
Note. LSC–low self-compassion group, HSC–high self-compassion group; TSST-Trier Social Stress Test; ΔSBP-change in systolic blood pressure; ΔDBP-change in diastolic blood pressure; ΔHR-change in heart rate; AUCi-area under the curve with respect to increase; RSA-Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (measure of heart rate variability); prep-preparatory phase of the Trier; . Heart rate variables were square-root transformed and cortisol AUCi and the diastolic blood pressure with the speech task were log-transformed to achieve normality prior to calculation of the t statistic and Hedge’s g. Where variable distributions were non-normal, Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were used to confirm results. Effect sizes for the RSA variables are reported with bootstrapped confidence intervals.