The Constitutive Relationship of Social Communication Competence to Self-Compassion and Hope

Communication is constitutive—in theory. In research, however, communication is often treated as an outcome, influenced by personal attributes. The present research examines social communication competence as a constitutive influence predicting self-compassion and hope. Path analysis results support this hypothesis. Results show that social communication expressivity (β =.14), sensitivity (β = –.32), and control (β =.20) predict self-compassion. Social communication sensitivity (β =.26) and control (β =.27) affect hope agency, and social communication control (β =.29) predicts hope pathways thinking. These results provide evidence of the constitutive nature of communication.