The cross-sectional association between self-compassion and coping self-efficacy has been well documented, but little is known about the extent to which self-compassion or coping self-efficacy persists in daily life. This study used dynamic structural equation modeling to explore the temporal relationship between self-compassion and coping self-efficacy through a daily diary study. Participants (N = 240, Mage = 18.98 ± 0.99 years, 44.8% female) completed 14 consecutive daily diaries on self-compassion and coping self-efficacy (for a total of 3219 observations). We found that self-compassion and coping self-efficacy demonstrated stability through autocorrelations. Self-compassion was a significant predictor of subsequent coping self-efficacy, and coping self-efficacy was a significant predictor of subsequent self-compassion. These findings suggest that there has been a virtuous cycle between state coping self-efficacy and state self-compassion.
Keywords: coping self‐efficacy; daily diary survey; dynamic structural equation modeling; self‐compassion.
© 2024 International Association of Applied Psychology.