Abstract

This study examined the different roles of self-compassion and self-esteem in mitigating the impact of everyday negative events on negative affect and social comparisons via multilevel modeling. A preliminary questionnaire of self-compassion and self-esteem was administered to 101 Korean college students, after which contingent diaries (every four days) were com- pleted by students. Cross-level interaction analysis showed that (1) the more the participant believed the negative event was their own fault, the greater the negative affect and social comparison; and (2) the higher the level of self-compassion, the lower the negative affect and social comparison, which was not observed with self-esteem. The results suggest that self-com- passion plays a mitigating role in the impact of negative events, whereas self-esteem does not.