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Self-compassion Scales
Much of the research conducted on self-compassion so far has used the Self-Compassion Scale, created by Dr. Kristin Neff, which measures the degree to which individuals display self-kindness against self-judgment, common humanity versus isolation, and mindfulness versus over-identification.

The Self-compassion Scale has been translated into different languages. Some of these include a Dutch, Japanese , Chinese , Turkish and Greek version.

Development
The original sample for which the scale was developed consisted of 68 undergraduate students from a large university in the United States. In this experiment, the participants narrowed down the potential scale items to 71.

The next stage of development involved testing the reliability and validity of the scale among a larger group of participants. During this research study, 391 undergraduate students were selected at random to complete the 71 previously narrowed down scale items. Based on their results, the number of items was reduced to 26. The self-compassion scales have good reliability and validity.

A second study was conducted to look more closely at the difference between self-esteem and self-compassion. This study consisted of 232 randomly selected, undergraduate students. Participants were asked to complete a number of different scales in questionnaire form. They were as follows: The 26-item Self-compassion Scale, the 10-item Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, the 10-item Self-determination Scale, the 21-item Basic Psychological Needs Scale, and the 40-item Narcissistic Personality Inventory. Based on the findings, Neff reports "that self-compassion and self-esteem were measuring two different psychological phenomena."

A third study was conducted to examine the construct validity. By comparing two different groups of people, researchers would be able to see the different levels of self-compassion. Forty-three Buddhist practitioners completed the Self-compassion Scale as well as a self-esteem scale. The sample of 232 undergraduate students from the second study was used as the comparison group. To no surprise to Neff, the Buddhist practitioners had significantly higher self-compassion scores than the students.

Self-compassion Scale
The long version of the Self-compassion Scale (SCS) consists of 26 items. This includes 6 subscales – self-kindness, self-judgement, common humanity, isolation, mindfulness, and over-identified. Neff recommends this scale for ages 14 and up with a minimum 8th grade reading level.

Presented on a Likert scale, ranging from 1 (almost never) to 5 (almost always), those completing the SCS are able to gain insight on how they respond to themselves during a struggle or challenging time.

A shorter, Dutch version of the SCS scale has been developed that uses 24 items.

Self-compassion Scale – Short Form
The short version of the Self-compassion Scale (SCS-SF) consists of 12 items and is available in Dutch and English. Research reveals that the short form scale can be used competently as a substitute for the long form scale. A study conducted at the University of Leuven, Belgium concluded that when examining total scores, this shorter version provides an almost perfect correlation with the longer version.