An Analysis of Body-Specific Mechanisms Explaining the Associations Between Self-Compassion, Body Checking, and Body Image Avoidance

Abstract

Behavioral manifestations of body image dissatisfaction, such as body checking and body image avoidance, are linked with the pathology of eating disorders (Walker et al., 2018). Due to this relationship, research establishing risk and protective factors for these body image disturbances is important for the development of interventions. One of these potential protective factors is self-compassion (Braun et al., 2016), which is comprised of three compassionate facets (mindfulness, self-kindness, common humanity) and three uncompassionate facets (overidentification, self-judgment, isolation). The mechanisms by which self-compassion are linked to body checking and body image avoidance are understudied, particularly with respect to the individual facets of self-compassion, which could provide information on what aspects of self-compassion relate most with these body image disturbances. The present cross-sectional study examined the relationship between the three uncompassionate facets of self-compassion and body checking/avoidance through mediation models. We anticipated that each uncompassionate facet would be associated with body checking and body image avoidance, and that these relationships would be mediated through a body-specific variable (e.g., body shame, body comparisons, body rumination) that appeared to conceptually align with that particular uncompassionate component. Specifically, we hypothesized that a) the relationship between self-judgement and body checking/avoidance would be mediated by body shame, b) the relationship between isolation and body checking/avoidance would be mediated by body comparisons, and c) the relationship between over-identification and body checking/avoidance would be mediated by body rumination. A total of 195 female college students completed a set of surveys and were included in the analyses. Pearson’s correlations and simple mediation analyses were used to examine the various models we hypothesized. Results showed that the uncompassionate facets correlated with their paired body-specific cognition, and both the uncompassionate facets and body-specific cognitions correlated with body checking and avoidance. The body-specific cognitions significantly mediated the relationship between their paired uncompassionate facet and body checking/avoidance. Parallel mediation analyses showed that no body-specific cognition explained the relationship between any uncompassionate facet and body checking/avoidance significantly more than the other body-specific cognitions. This indicates that body-specific cognitions, in general, appear to co-occur and collectively mediate the relationship between lack of self-compassion and body checking/avoidance, as opposed to specific body cognitions. The results of this study may be helpful in understanding the processes involved in the development of body image disturbances and could be useful in informing specific targets in self-compassion interventions.