LUCARINI, A., FUOCHI, G., & VOCI, A.
Who’s afraid of compassion? Fears of compassion partially mediate the relationships of insecure attachment and entitlement with prosociality and affective empathy
The aim of this study was to test the mediating role of three types of fear of compassion (FoC) — for others, from others, and for self — in the relationships that insecure attachment (anxious and avoidant) and psychological entitlement have with prosociality and two dimensions of affective empathy (i.e., empathic concern and personal distress). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted on cross-sectional correlational data, employing a sample of Italian adults (N = 705). Results showed that both types of insecure attachment are negatively related to empathic concern and prosociality via FoC-from others. Entitlement is negatively related to empathic concern and prosociality via FoC-for others. All predictors are positively related to personal distress via FoC-for self. Findings suggest that fears of compassion may act as a bridge between individual differences grounded in clinical psychology and social psychological variables. From a clinical perspective, dealing with fears of compassion could help break the link between intraindividual maladaptive dispositions and issues regarding interpersonal aspects of the self.
Testing, Psychometrics, Methodology in Applied Psychology, 2023, Vol. 30, pp. 405 – 412, DOI: 10.4473/TPM30.4.3
