The current study provided an initial investigation of the effect of self-compassion on reducing materialism and explored the basic psychological needs and self-esteem as potential mechanisms. Two studies would be conducted. Study 1 explored the relationships among variables with cross-sectional data, to explore the relationship between self-compassion and materialism, and test the mediating role of basic psychological needs and self-esteem. Study 2 developed a new online self-help self-compassion intervention and conducted a randomized control trial (i.e., intervention group and waitlist group) to further explore the casual effect of self-compassion on materialism, with the mediating effect of basic psychological needs and self-esteem.

The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) consented to accept randomization, finish the intervention and fill out questionnaires and (2) had no current or previous mental disorder diagnosis.

The Chinese Version of Self-compassion Scale (SCS-C; Chen et al., 2011) was used to measure the self-compassion level of participants. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965) was used to measure self-esteem using 10 items. The Balanced Measure of Psychological Needs Scale (BMPN; Sheldon & Hilpert, 2012) was used to measure basic psychological needs. The Material Tendencies Scale (MTS; Zhang & Xiao, 2019) was used to measure materialism.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. consented to accept randomization, finish the intervention and fill out questionnaires and
2. had no current or previous mental disorder diagnosis.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. did not accept randomization, can not finish the intervention and fill out questionnaires
2. had current or previous mental disorder diagnosis.