Self‐Compassion, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation, and Cognitive Flexibility in Parent–Child Relationships in Türkiye: A Dyadic Longitudinal Study
Published online on April 27, 2026
Abstract
["Family Process, Volume 65, Issue 2, June 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nDespite 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.\n"]