Consapevolezza, accettazione e comprensione di sé: associazioni con il benessere individuale e l'apertura prosociale

The positive psychology approach involves the study of characteristics that may contribute to an optimal functioning of individual and society (e.g. Gable & Haidt, 2005), by improving for instance well-being and prosocial orientation. In this scenario, mindfulness, i.e. a non-judgmental awareness that emerges through paying attention to the present moment (e.g. Kabat-Zinn, 1994), is particularly relevant. Similarly, a growing interest has been recently devoted to self-compassion, i.e. a non-judgmental attitude towards own weaknesses (Neff, 2003). Mindfulness and self-compassion showed to be related to improved well-being (e.g. Bernard & Curry, 2011; Keng, Smoski, & Robins, 2011). Their relation to prosocial tendencies (e.g. Block-Lerner, Orsillo, & Plumb, 2004, Neff & Germer, 2013) is less clear though. Aiming to better understand the relationship of mindfulness and self-compassion with indicators of well-being and prosocial orientation, two new constructs have been developed in this thesis. The first construct is "emotional awareness", a non-judgmental awareness toward own emotions, positive and negative, which are therefore fully experienced, without alterations or suppressions. The second one, "self-caring", covers (i) the awareness to be in a time of trouble and to need help; and (ii) the openness to accept the offered support. Mindfulness is hypothesized to be a precondition of self-compassion (e.g. Birnie, Speca, & Carlson, 2010), emotional awareness and self-caring. We aimed to investigate the relationship of mindfulness, self-compassion, emotional awareness and self-caring with different indicators of well-being and prosocial tendencies, considering the simultaneous effects of social desirability. More specifically, we tested a mediation model in which the relationship of mindfulness with well-being and prosocial inclinations was mediated by self-compassion, emotional awareness and self-caring. In order to test this hypothesis, we developed an Italian adaptation of the instruments used to asses mindfulness and self-compassion, i.e., the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003; Study 1), and the Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form (SCS-SF; Raes, Pommier, Neff & Van Gucht, 2011; Study 2). Furthermore, we developed the two instruments for the assessment of emotional awareness and self-caring dispositions and we investigated their main psychometric characteristics (Study 3). Then, through a confirmatory factor analysis, we showed that the analyzed constructs were different from each other, although partially overlapping, controlling also for their susceptibility to social desirability (Study 4). The subsequent study has preliminarily investigated the relationship of mindfulness, self-compassion, emotional awareness and self-caring with indicators of well-being and prosocial orientation (Study 5). The mediation model has been therefore tested for the first time. Finally, the last two studies examined more in depth the mediation model. Specifically, we employed indicators of general, subjective and psychological well-being (Study 6), unconditional respect and prosocial personality (Study 7). In these studies we also tested a two-level mediation model, where the relationship of mindfulness with well-being and prosocial tendencies was mediated by self-compassion, emotional awareness and self-caring, at the first level, and by gratitude and inter-being, at the second level. Gratitude has already showed to be related to an increase in well-being and prosocial inclinations, while inter-being is a new construct of Eastern origin. In all these studies, the mediation model has been examined adopting a structural equation model approach. Overall, the results suggest that mindfulness is associated with improved well-being and increased prosocial orientation, especially through higher emotional awareness, gratitude and inter-being. Strengths, limitations, implications of the studies and future perspectives are discussed.