New articles that should be read by those interested in using the SCS in research.
Neff, K. D., Long, P. Knox, M., Davidson, O., Kuchar, A., Costigan, A., Williamson, Z., Rohleder, N., Tóth-Király, I., & Breines, J. (2018). The forest and the trees: Examining the association of self-compassion and its positive and negative components with psychological functioning. Self and Identity. 17 (6), 627-645. PDF
Neff, K. D., Tóth-Király, I., Yarnell, L., Arimitsu, K., Castilho, P., Ghorbani, N.,…Mantios, M. (2018). Examining the Factor Structure of the Self-Compassion Scale using exploratory SEM bifactor analysis in 20 diverse samples: Support for use of a total score and six subscale scores. Psychological Assessment, 1-19. PDF
Self-Compassion Scale (SCS)
Please feel free to use the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) for research or any other use (26 items). Masters and dissertation students also have my permission to use and publish the Self Compassion Scale in their theses. The SCS is appropriate for ages 14 and up (as long as individuals have at lease an 8th grade reading level). Anyone interested in publishing a translation of the scale should reference recommendations made in Neff, Tóth-Király, et al. (in press).
Neff, K. D. (2003). Development and validation of a scale to measure self-compassion. Self and Identity, 2, 223-250.
Self-Compassion Scale – Short Form (SCS-SF)
Please feel free to use the Self-Compassion Scale – Short Form (SCS-SF) in your research (12 items instead of 26 items). The short scale has a near-perfect correlation with the long scale when examining total scores. We do not recommend using the short form if you are interested in subscale scores, since they’re less reliable with the short form.
Raes, F., Pommier, E., Neff, K. D., & Van Gucht, D. (2011). Construction and factorial validation of a short form of the Self-Compassion Scale. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy. 18, 250-255