Surrendering to thrive: Evaluating the psychometric properties of the State of Surrender (SoS) scale and its relationship with well-being

Abstract

State of Surrender (SoS)—the willingness to accept what is to come without resistance—has been conceptualized as a psychological state associated with heightened well-being. Conceptually, SoS bears a resemblance to existing constructs shown to be related to psychological health (e.g., psychological flexibility, mindfulness). As such, the purpose of this paper was to evaluate the psychometric proprieties of the SoS scale, demonstrate its novelty as a correlate of well-being, and experimentally manipulate a surrender state. Study 1 found that the SoS scale consisted of a single factor associated with thriving and flourishing, even while controlling for significant covariates. Study 2 confirmed the single-factor solution and identified social connectedness and self-compassion as statistical mediators of the relationship between SoS and happiness. Finally, Study 3 demonstrated that SoS could be manipulated using a mindfulness exercise; people completing a 10-min mindfulness practice reported higher levels of SoS when compared to a time-matched control. Implications and future directions are discussed.