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The effects of mindfulness and self-compassion on satisfaction in romantic relationships
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Many people practice mindfulness and self-compassion techniques in their daily lives as part of their self-care routine. While many studies support the individual benefits of mindfulness and self-compassion, few have focused on the results in romantic relationships. A new study published in the journal Personal Relationships examined how mindfulness, self-compassion, compassion for others, and need satisfaction were associated with relationship satisfaction and sexual satisfaction in middle-aged married couples.
The study included 640 adults aged 40 to 59 years living in Canada and who were married.
Mindfulness is non-judgmental attention and awareness of present moments; compassion for others and self-compassion describe a kind attitude toward others and oneself; need satisfaction is divided into the need for autonomy (feeling at ease in one's actions), the need for competence (feeling capable), and the need for relatedness (feeling connected to others).
Statistical analysis of participants' responses revealed a complex interaction between these factors and highlighted the importance of need satisfaction, particularly the need for relatedness, in linking higher mindfulness and self-compassion with higher satisfaction in midlife married couples.
"Romantic relationships are surprisingly complex and depend on a multitude of personal and interpersonal variables. We used an analytical approach that could model this complexity. Our results, although preliminary and exploratory, suggest that there may be a positive association between mindfulness, self-compassion, and relationship improvement. However, these positive effects appear to occur indirectly (through associations with more proximal variables such as relationship need satisfaction), which is consistent with emerging theory in this area," said Christopher Quinn-Nilas, PhD, an author of the study from Memorial University.