Body dissatisfaction is a prevalent concern among women in the United States. Self-compassion writing interventions have been found to reduce body dissatisfaction. However, limited research has examined how writing interventions on compassion for one’s body compares to writing interventions on compassion for others’ bodies, and no previous studies examined the effects of those interventions on fat phobia. This study’s main aim was to examine the impact of compassion writing interventions on body dissatisfaction, self-compassion, and fat phobia in women.
Methods
Participants included 198 women (age M = 38.97, SD = 11.72; range 18–65) from the general U.S. population who were randomized to one of three groups: self-compassion (wrote about being compassionate toward one’s body concerns), other-compassion (wrote about being compassionate toward another woman’s body concerns), and control (wrote about their tasks/activities in the previous two days). Participants completed questionnaires on their state body dissatisfaction, state self-compassion, and fat phobia pre- and post-intervention.
Results
State body dissatisfaction significantly decreased, and state self-compassion significantly increased in the self-compassion group. State self-compassion significantly increased in the other-compassion group. Although we found a significant time effect across groups for fat phobia, fat phobia scores only decreased in the self-compassion and other-compassion groups.
Conclusions
The self-compassion writing intervention had the most impact on body-related variables and may be valuable for women between 18 and 65 years old.
Preregistration
This study was not preregistered.
Opmerkingen
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Body dissatisfaction, or negative feelings about one’s body, is a prevalent concern for women in the United States (U.S.; Runfola et al., 2013). Body dissatisfaction is problematic because it is associated with higher maladaptive eating behaviors (Eck et al., 2022). U.S. national estimations suggest that one in five women will have experienced an eating disorder by the age of 40 (Ward et al., 2019). There is also a risk of relapse in later ages, suggesting the importance of studying women across several age ranges (Ward et al., 2019).
The prevalence of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in women could partly be attributed to a concept called “fat phobia” coined by Robinson et al. (1993). Fat phobia is defined as a fear of fatness, which often presents as negative beliefs about people of higher weight. A related concept to fat phobia is anti-fat attitudes, which consist of three dimensions: disliking people of higher weight, believing that higher weight is due to willpower, and having a fear of personal higher weight (Crandall, 1994). Negative stereotypes about people of higher weight can lead to one applying these stereotypes to themselves, which is referred to as weight bias internalization (Romano et al., 2023). A meta-analysis found that weight bias internalization was associated with worse physical, behavioral, and psychological health (Romano et al., 2023). Similarly, Fahs and Swank (2017) found that women in the U.S. held strong negative stereotypes about women of higher weight and had extreme negative emotional reactions to the idea of becoming a woman of higher weight.
Given the problems of body dissatisfaction and fat phobia, it is important to examine factors that might reduce them. For example, one protective factor of body dissatisfaction is self-compassion (Braun et al., 2016). Self-compassion is the act of expressing kindness and understanding toward oneself, particularly related to mistakes or flaws (Neff, 2003). Wasylkiw et al. (2012) found that higher self-compassion was associated with lower body-focused concerns. In addition, Stutts and Blomquist (2018) discovered that self-compassion moderated the relationship between weight/shape concerns and disordered eating such that there was a weaker relationship between those variables among individuals with higher self-compassion. Moreover, higher self-compassion has been found to be associated with lower anti-fat attitudes (Webb et al., 2016) and lower internalized weight stigma (Fekete et al., 2021).
Because of the benefits of self-compassion, self-compassion writing interventions have been developed to improve body image. Self-compassion writing interventions involve individuals completing a short writing task where they focus on expressing kindness and understanding toward themselves about their body or appearance (Moffitt et al., 2018; Seekis et al., 2017; Stern & Engeln, 2018; Ziemer et al., 2019). For example, Seekis et al. (2017) randomized female college students in Australia to a self-compassion writing group, a self-esteem writing group, or a control writing group after reading a negative body image scenario. They found that the self-compassion writing group had higher body appreciation after the intervention than the other two groups. In addition, Moffitt et al. (2018) randomized female college students in Australia to a self-compassion writing group, a self-esteem writing group, or a positive distraction group after completing a body dissatisfaction induction. They found that weight dissatisfaction decreased in the self-compassion group and was lower than in the other two groups post-intervention. However, these previous interventions were all conducted with only female college students (Moffitt et al., 2018; Seekis et al., 2017; Stern & Engeln, 2018; Ziemer et al., 2019), which indicates a need for more research with women across several age ranges.
While self-compassion interventions have shown promise in reducing body dissatisfaction, the other common form of compassion that may be beneficial is compassion for others, which includes perceiving others’ suffering and wishing to alleviate it (Pommier et al., 2020). Compassion for others has been found to be positively associated with self-compassion (Bayır-Toper et al., 2022) and predicts one’s subjective well-being (Oriol et al., 2022). The level of compassion one shows for others’ bodies might reduce one’s level of body dissatisfaction in a similar manner to self-compassion (Wasylkiw et al., 2012). Although the majority of studies have examined self-compassion as an intervention for body dissatisfaction (Kelly et al., 2019), one study examined the impact of compassion for others (Vimalakanthan et al., 2018). Vimalakanthan et al. (2018) had Canadian women recall an instance when they felt dissatisfied with their own appearance because they had compared their appearance to another woman’s appearance. Subsequently, participants were randomized to a compassion condition (express compassion toward the person the participant is comparing themselves to as having a better appearance), a competition condition (focus on how the participant is superior to the person they are comparing themselves to outside of appearance such as intelligence or work ethic), or a control condition (distraction). They found that in women who engaged in frequent social comparison, the compassion condition was more effective in reducing body dissatisfaction than the other two conditions. However, compassion was not induced toward the other person’s body in that study—it was general compassion toward them. Furthermore, no experimental research has examined how compassion for others’ bodies affects someone’s body image compared to compassion toward oneself.
Although previous research to our knowledge has not examined the effect of compassion writing interventions on fat phobia, research has examined the effect of inducing empathy (e.g., learning about the struggles of someone of higher weight) on anti-fat prejudice reduction (Daníelsdóttir et al., 2010). Empathy and compassion are related concepts, but empathy is more about inducing understanding toward someone else, whereas compassion is more about extending support and care toward someone else (Sinclair et al., 2017). Two review studies found that inducing empathy was largely ineffective (Daníelsdóttir et al., 2010; Kaufmann & Bridgeman, 2022). However, the empathy interventions typically only included passive exposure to a vignette about a stranger of higher weight. In the present study, we include a compassion-for-others and a self-compassion intervention that includes a written response to themselves or someone they know about having kindness toward one’s body. This type of intervention may be more effective than previous empathy interventions as it is more personal and involves an active response.
The present study’s main aim was to examine the impact of compassion writing interventions on state body dissatisfaction, state self-compassion, and fat phobia in women. Our study was novel in three ways: (1) it compared the impact of compassion for others’ bodies to compassion for one’s own body, (2) it examined the impact of compassion interventions on fat phobia, and (3) it included women between 18 and 65 years of age rather than only college-aged women. Participants were randomized into three intervention groups: self-compassion, other-compassion, and control. Participants completed the following measures pre- and post-intervention: state body dissatisfaction, state self-compassion, and fat phobia. We hypothesized that there would be a significant interaction by group and time such that the participants in the self-compassion group and other-compassion group would have decreased body dissatisfaction, increased self-compassion, and decreased fat phobia from pre- to post-intervention. Additionally, we hypothesized that the self-compassion group would have lower body dissatisfaction, higher self-compassion, and lower fat phobia than the other-compassion group and the control group post-intervention.
Method
Participants
The inclusion criteria for this study were as follows: self-identified women, 18 to 65 years old, U.S. residents, and whose first language was English. Recruitment took place via an online research system called Cloud Research Connect (https://www.cloudresearch.com/products/connect-for-researchers/). Cloud Research Connect pays participants from the general population to complete surveys, which allows for efficient data collection (Hartman et al., 2023). Although 218 participants started the survey and provided consent, we removed 13 participants for not completing the survey (e.g., did not complete any of the post-intervention measures) and seven participants who failed more than one of the attention checks and/or the manipulation check (see attention and manipulation check section). A power analysis using G*power using an effect size f2 of 0.25, a power level of 0.95, and a significance value of 0.05 for a mixed 2 × 3 ANOVA indicated that we would need at least 189 participants (Faul et al., 2009). Therefore, we had sufficient power for our study with n = 198 participants.
Procedures
This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Davidson College. Once participants provided consent, they completed measures on state body dissatisfaction, state self-compassion, and fat phobia. Next, participants were randomized into one of three groups: self-compassion, other-compassion, or control. Subsequently, participants completed the state body dissatisfaction, state self-compassion, and fat phobia measures again. Participants then completed demographic questions. Lastly, participants read the following statement about resources: “Thank you for completing this study. If any of the questions raised concerns for you about your body image and/or eating behaviors, then please make an appointment with a local counselor. You can also call the toll-free, confidential National Alliance for Eating Disorders Helpline at 1–866-662–1235 for support.” The survey took around 20 min to complete, and participants who completed the survey were paid US $4.00.
Group Interventions
The self-compassion group responded to a writing task that was drawn from Neff’s self-compassion practices website (https://self-compassion.org/) and from previous research using self-compassion writing interventions (Moffitt et al., 2018; Ziemer et al., 2019). For example, Moffitt et al. (2018) had participants experience a body dissatisfaction induction using images of thin women before writing compassionately about their bodies. However, for the body dissatisfaction induction in the present study, participants in the self-compassion group were asked to think about a recent moment when they felt self-conscious or critical about their body shape or size (e.g., how clothes fit), their eating behaviors (e.g., feeling guilty about eating), and/or their exercise habits (e.g., not exercising enough). Participants were asked to write a response in three parts, which each had their own text box: what happened, the thoughts they were having about themselves, and the feelings they had at that moment. We chose this induction as we wanted the intervention to be personal to the participant, ensure participants’ interaction with the prompt, and be consistent with the subsequent writing task. Next, participants were asked to write a compassionate message to themselves in three parts, which each had their text box: write a message to yourself about accepting any “flaws” (e.g., I accept my body despite…), write a message to yourself focusing on your body’s functions, purpose, and its strengths (e.g., I appreciate that my body allows me to…), and write a message to yourself expressing kindness and love toward your body (e.g., I will treat my body with kindness…). We included these components as we wanted to make sure participants were thorough in their responses and that they were considering various aspects of love and kindness toward their bodies.
The other-compassion group responded to the same task as the self-compassion group except they were only prompted to write about someone else. Participants in the other-compassion group were first prompted to think about a recent moment when they witnessed another woman (either someone they knew or someone in the media) being self-conscious or critical about their body shape or size (e.g., how clothes fit), their eating behaviors (e.g., feeling guilty about eating), and/or their exercise habits (e.g., not exercising enough). Participants were asked to write a response in three parts, which each had their own text box: what happened, the thoughts the woman expressed about themselves out loud, and the feelings that the woman appeared to be having at that moment. Next, participants were asked to write a compassionate message to the woman in three parts, which each had their own text box: write a message to them about accepting any “flaws” (e.g., Your body is beautiful just as it is…), write a message to them focusing on their body’s functions, purpose, and its strengths (e.g., Your body allows you to…), and write a message to them expressing kindness and love toward their body (e.g., You deserve to treat your body with kindness and love…). The instructions focused on the same aspects of body image as the self-compassion group to ensure consistency.
The control group responded to a writing task that was adapted from Ziemer et al. (2019) and Stern and Engeln (2018) who prompted their control group to write about their day. First, participants in the control group were prompted to think about the tasks they had completed or activities they had experienced yesterday. They were asked to only focus their descriptions on facts rather than their thoughts and feelings about the tasks/activities. Participants were asked to write a response in three parts, which each had their text box: tasks/activities they completed in the morning, tasks/activities they completed in the afternoon, and tasks/activities they completed in the evening. Next, the participants were asked to think about the tasks they had completed or activities they had experienced the day before yesterday and were prompted to complete the same three writing tasks. Therefore, the control group completed six total writing tasks, which was the same number as the compassion groups.
Measures
State Body Dissatisfaction
We used a state body dissatisfaction visual analog scale to assess the negative thoughts and feelings participants had toward their bodies. Visual analogue scales have been shown to be effective ways to assess state body dissatisfaction (Heinberg & Thompson, 1995; Tiggemann & Slater, 2004) and have frequently been used in previous experimental body image research (Cha et al., 2022; Slater et al., 2017; Tiggemann & Barbato, 2018). Participants were asked to rate three items (e.g., “I am dissatisfied with my weight,” “I am dissatisfied with my overall appearance,” and “I am dissatisfied with my body shape”) on a scale from 0 (not at all) to 100 (extremely) based on how they were feeling in the moment. An average was calculated, and higher scores indicated higher body dissatisfaction. The McDonald’s ω was 0.93 for pre-intervention and 0.95 for post-intervention assessment.
State Self-Compassion
The State Self-Compassion Scale Short Form was used to determine participants’ current feelings of kindness toward themselves (Neff et al., 2021). Participants first were prompted to think about a situation they were currently experiencing that was painful or difficult. Subsequently, they were asked to indicate how well each statement applied to how they are feeling toward themselves right now as they think about the situation. There were six statements (e.g., “I feel intolerant and impatient toward myself”) that participants rated on a scale from 1 (not at all true for me) to 5 (very true for me). Three items were reverse-coded and then an average of the six items was calculated with higher scores indicating higher self-compassion. McDonald’s ω was 0.82 for pre-intervention and 0.83 for post-intervention assessment.
Fat Phobia
The Fat Phobia Scale was used to assess the stereotypes participants held about “obese or fat people” (Bacon et al., 2001). This measure has been reliably used as a pre-post assessment of negative weight attitudes in experimental body image research (Cha et al., 2022; Stutts & Myers, 2023). There were 14 items that consisted of a pair of adjectives (e.g., strong and weak). Participants were prompted to select the bubble closest to the adjective they believed best described their feelings and beliefs about “obese or fat people” on a scale of 1 (e.g., strong) to 5 (e.g., weak). After reverse coding seven items, an average score was calculated with a higher score indicating greater fat phobia. McDonald’s ω was 0.92 for pre-intervention and 0.94 for post-intervention assessment.
Demographics
Participants reported their age, race, ethnicity, weight, and height. We calculated participants’ Body Mass Index (BMI) using their height and weight.
Attention and Manipulation Check
We included three attention checks and one manipulation check. Participants were prompted to select “Almost Never” and “Sometimes” at different points during the survey. Near the end of the study, participants were asked to select the topic of the writing prompt they were prompted to write about earlier (e.g., “I wrote a note to someone else about being kind to themselves about their body”). The manipulation check assessed whether participants answered the writing prompts accurately (i.e., if they were in the self-compassion group, then we checked if they actually wrote self-compassion statements to themselves). If a participant missed more than one attention check and/or missed the manipulation check, then they were removed. Two participants were removed from failing all attention checks (e.g., did not select the correct answer for any of the prompts), and five were removed for failing the manipulation check (e.g., they did not follow the writing prompt). Of those five, two participants from the other-compassion group repeated the same answer or did not provide any answer to the writing prompt, one participant in the control group wrote nonsensical sentences, and two participants in the self-compassion group only wrote self-critical thoughts.
Data Analyses
We conducted reliability analyses and descriptive statistics for the main variables. To examine if there were any differences among the groups at baseline, we conducted a Pearson chi-square analysis for race and ethnicity and a between-subjects ANOVA for age and BMI. For our main aim, we conducted 2 (pre-post) × 3 (group) mixed ANOVAs on state body dissatisfaction, state self-compassion, and fat phobia. All analyses were conducted with SPSS Version 29.
Results
Descriptive Statistics of Sample
Table 1 contains the descriptive statistics for the 198 participants. Participants were predominantly non-Hispanic/Latinx White women. Our sample had a mean age of 38.97 (SD = 11.72), an age range of 18 to 65, and an average BMI of 28.05 (SD = 7.10). State body dissatisfaction, self-compassion, and fat phobia were normally distributed and were within the acceptable skewness and kurtosis range for medium-sized samples (Kim, 2013). There were no significant differences in demographic characteristics among the three intervention groups at baseline (Table 1).
Table 1
Descriptive statistics of participants
Category
Total
Self-
Compassion
Group
Other-
Compassion
Group
Control
Group
(N = 198)
(n = 66)
(n = 66)
(n = 66)
n (%)
n (%)
n (%)
n (%)
χ2
Race
7.02
White
141 (71.2)
44 (66.7)
47 (71.2)
50 (75.8)
African American
27 (13.6)
11(16.7)
10 (15.2)
6 (9.1)
Bi/Multiracial
13 (6.6)
6 (9.1)
4 (6.1)
3 (4.5)
Asian American
10 (5.1)
3 (4.5)
2 (3.0)
5 (7.6)
Not Listed
5 (2.5)
1 (1.5)
3 (4.5)
1 (1.5)
Hispanic/Latinx
0.45
Yes
20 (10.1)
6 (9.1)
8 (12.1)
6 (9.1)
No
178 (89.9)
60 (90.9)
58 (87.9)
60 (90.9)
M (SD)
M (SD)
M (SD)
M (SD)
F
Age
38.97 (11.72)
37.33 (11.68)
40.32 (11.03)
39.26 (12.40)
1.10
Body Mass Index
28.05 (7.10)
28.55 (6.65)
28.16 (6.17)
27.43 (8.36)
0.42
Note. Numbers and percentages do not add up to 100% due to missing data (two people did not indicate their race). p > .05 for χ2 and F tests indicating no baseline differences among groups
State Body Dissatisfaction
There was a significant interaction between time and group for state body dissatisfaction, F(2, 195) = 5.17, p = 0.006, ηp2 = 0.05 (Fig. 1; Table 2). Body dissatisfaction significantly decreased in the self-compassion group from pre-intervention (M = 54.41, SD = 33.20) to post-intervention (M = 47.21, SD = 34.64), p < 0.001. However, there were no significant differences in body dissatisfaction from pre-intervention to post-intervention for the other-compassion or control groups. There also were no differences among groups post-intervention.
Fig. 1
State body dissatisfaction by group and time. Note. Vertical axis was abridged for clarity. Error bars represent standard error. *** p < 0.001
Table 2
Descriptive statistics of the main variables by time and group
Variable
Self-compassion group
Other-compassion group
Control group
Pre
Post
Pre
Post
Pre
Post
M (SD)
M (SD)
M (SD)
M (SD)
M (SD)
M (SD)
Body dissatisfaction
54.41 (33.20)
47.21 (34.64)
60.22 (30.75)
58.18 (29.03)
56.33 (32.66)
56.46 (34.61)
Self-compassion
3.15 (0.96)
3.39 (0.97)
3.15 (0.78)
3.30 (0.69)
3.08 (1.02)
3.10 (1.03)
Fat phobia
3.36 (0.82)
3.19 (0.87)
3.41 (0.77)
3.24 (0.73)
3.52 (0.73)
3.52 (0.78)
×
State Self-Compassion
There was a significant interaction between time and group for state self-compassion, F(2, 195) = 3.17, p = 0.044, ηp2 = 0.03 (Fig. 2; Table 2). Self-compassion significantly increased in the self-compassion group from pre-intervention (M = 3.15, SD = 0.96) to post-intervention (M = 3.39, SD = 0.97), p < 0.001. In addition, self-compassion significantly increased from pre-intervention (M = 3.15, SD = 0.78) to post-intervention (M = 3.30, SD = 0.69) in the other-compassion group, p = 0.014. However, there was no significant difference in self-compassion over time for the control group. There also were no differences among groups post-intervention.
Fig. 2
State self-compassion by group and time
×
Fat Phobia
The interaction between time and group for fat phobia was not significant, F(2, 195) = 2.37, p = 0.096, ηp2 = 0.02, and the main effect for group was not significant, F(2, 195) = 2.08, p = 0.13, ηp2 = 0.02. However, there was a main effect for time for fat phobia, F(1, 195) = 9.49, p = 0.002, ηp2 = 0.05 such that fat phobia decreased from pre-intervention (M = 3.43, SD = 0.77) to post-intervention (M = 3.32, SD = 0.79) across groups, p = 0.002 (Fig. 3; Table 2). Fat phobia in the self- and other-compassion group decreased by an average of 0.17, whereas fat phobia did not change in the control group.
Fig. 3
Fat phobia by group and time
×
Discussion
The present study examined the impact of compassion writing interventions on state body dissatisfaction, state self-compassion, and fat phobia in women. Our hypotheses were partially supported. As expected, state body dissatisfaction decreased, and state self-compassion increased in the self-compassion group. Moreover, state self-compassion increased in the other-compassion group, which was in line with our hypotheses. However, body dissatisfaction did not change over time in the other-compassion group, which was unexpected. We also found a significant time effect across groups for fat phobia, though fat phobia scores only decreased in the self-compassion and other-compassion groups. Furthermore, there were no significant differences among the three groups at post-intervention for body dissatisfaction, self-compassion, and fat phobia.
As expected, women in the self-compassion group had a significant reduction in body dissatisfaction from pre- to post-intervention. This finding aligns with previous research on self-compassion writing interventions that found positive impacts on body image (Moffitt et al., 2018; Seekis et al., 2017; Stern & Engeln, 2018). The decreased body dissatisfaction could be because self-compassion writing interventions encourage women to engage in acceptance and self-love rather than focusing on their perceived flaws. Self-compassion has been shown to work in part by protecting against risk factors such as thin-ideal internalization (Braun et al., 2016). Inducing self-compassion about one’s body, in particular, also has been shown to be more valuable over techniques related to increasing self-esteem (Moffitt et al., 2018; Seekis et al., 2017). This approach may create cognitive dissonance such that the individual begins to believe the compassionate responses over the critical ones, which has been found to be an effective technique in other body image interventions (Vanderkruik et al., 2017). The act of writing a message versus only thinking about it or saying it out loud may have made that message more powerful as well. For example, research has found that writing contains more complex functions than simply speaking (Kellogg, 1994), and writing in certain contexts such as goal setting has been shown to be superior to only thinking (Locke & Latham, 2002).
While we had hypothesized that showing compassion toward another woman’s struggle with body image might decrease one’s own body dissatisfaction, there was no change over time in body dissatisfaction in the other-compassion group. Self-criticism toward one’s body may be too deep-rooted to be overcome by showing compassion for others. In fact, one study found that compassion for others is unrelated to outcome variables such as life satisfaction in some cases, particularly in individuals when compassion for others is not associated with self-compassion (Sahdra et al., 2023). Therefore, compassion for others may not be as related to the outcome variable of body dissatisfaction. Moreover, Vimalakanthan et al. (2018) found that only individuals in the compassion condition who had high social comparison had reduced body dissatisfaction compared to the other groups; therefore, social comparison or another related variable may be a moderator in the present study. Further research should examine that possibility.
Self-compassion increased in both the self-compassion and other-compassion groups as expected. The effectiveness of self-compassion writing interventions in improving self-compassion aligns with previous research (Ziemer et al., 2019). However, the novel finding in our study was the significant increase in state self-compassion that we observed in participants from the other-compassion group. This experimental result is consistent with previous correlational research that has found a positive association between showing compassion toward others and self-compassion (Bayır-Toper et al., 2022).
Fat phobia decreased across groups per the main effect of time. However, it is clear that the self-compassion group and other-compassion group were driving the main effect of time as their fat phobia decreased, whereas fat phobia did not change in the control group. Reduction in fat phobia in the self-compassion group aligns with previous research that higher self-compassion has been found to be associated with lower fear of fat (Webb et al., 2016) and lower weight bias internalization (Fekete et al., 2021). Since both the self-compassion and other-compassion writing interventions prompted participants to examine body image from a more empathic and supportive point of view, the negative stereotypes about being of higher weight may have decreased. This aligns with previous research that found that exposure to counterstereotypical information about people of higher weight results in lower fat phobia (Lin & Stutts, 2020). The lack of a change in fat phobia in our control group also is consistent with research that did not find a difference over time in fat phobia in their control group (Lin & Stutts, 2020). This result is likely because we did not address weight in the control group intervention; participants only wrote about their day. However, we may not have seen a significant interaction effect because the fat phobia measure may have been less malleable to change and because fat phobia was less directly targeted by our intervention than body dissatisfaction and compassion.
Surprisingly, we did not find that the self-compassion group produced significantly stronger effects than the other-compassion group post-intervention for self-compassion and fat phobia. Therefore, it appears that being prompted to have compassion for others may extend to oneself at a similar level. Moreover, it appears that any kind of compassion toward negativity about your own body or another person’s body reduces fat phobia. That said, because the self-compassion intervention was effective in reducing body dissatisfaction and the other compassion intervention was not, the self-compassion intervention was an overall stronger intervention than the other-compassion intervention.
Limitations and Future Directions
There were some key limitations in this study. First, approximately 71% of the participants reported being non-Hispanic/Latinx White women, whereas the latest census indicated that non-Hispanic/Latinx White individuals represent around 59% of individuals in the U.S. (United States Census Bureau, 2023). This study was conducted online; therefore, participants had to have access to a device and the Internet. As such, our results may not be generalizable to the general population. Similarly, it is possible completing an intervention online may be a challenge for some individuals who may be completing more than one task online, whereas it likely would be harder to be distracted with an in-person intervention. In addition, we used several aspects of self-compassion about one’s body (i.e., accepting flaws, appreciating one’s body function, and expressing body kindness) in our writing intervention, but we do not know which of those may have been the most powerful in reducing body dissatisfaction. More research is needed to examine which prompts and why certain prompts are most helpful. Furthermore, our intervention was relatively brief (e.g., around 10 min), and we do not know if there were long-term effects of it. Similarly, it is possible that participants were aware of the goal of the study as they completed pre-post questionnaires in a short period of time, which could have influenced their responses. We also did not have a measure of compassion for others pre- and post-intervention.
Another limitation is related to how participants responded to the intervention. We had to remove two participants in the self-compassion group for providing self-critical thoughts instead of self-compassion thoughts. For example, one participant in the self-compassion group wrote, “I can’t lie to myself and say it’s ok, you can’t help it, every shape is beautiful when I don’t believe that at all,” when asked to show acceptance toward their flaws. Research has found that some individuals with body image concerns experience a fear of compassion, a maladaptive defense mechanism that could be taking place in those two participants (Dias et al., 2020; Ferreira et al., 2019). A different type of intervention may be needed for individuals with a fear of compassion. Similarly, some individuals were more engaged with the intervention with longer written responses than others, and some individuals’ examples were more emotional or intense than others. Therefore, it is possible that the intervention affected individuals differentially depending on their engagement. We also did not assess whether participants had a history of eating disorders, which could have affected their responses. Moreover, our study included self-report data, which can be inaccurate for variables such as weight.
While there are limitations, this study has valuable implications. The results suggest that self-compassion writing interventions are impactful in reducing body dissatisfaction and increasing self-compassion. Our intervention was also brief and simple to administer suggesting that it could likely be easily applied to women across a range of ages. It is important to note that our intervention was specific to inducing self-compassion about one’s body. It is possible that broader interventions inducing general self-compassion would not have the same effect. We also found that compassion for others writing interventions could help improve state self-compassion. Therefore, women should be encouraged to express kindness toward others who express negativity about their body as it can positively affect their own self-compassion. Our results also suggest that both interventions may be helpful in reducing negative feelings about women of higher weight as well.
Overall, this study highlights the value of compassion interventions. Future research should conduct a longitudinal study to assess the long-term effects of self-compassion and other-compassion writing interventions. Additionally, repeating this study in the future with a more ethnically diverse sample population might allow the data to be more generalizable. Examining potential moderators (e.g., fear of compassion and social comparison) may be beneficial. It also would be helpful to examine if this intervention has different effectiveness for women with eating disorders. Further exploration of this research will assist in the improvement of body image interventions for women.
Declarations
Ethics Approval
The Institutional Review Board at Davidson College approved this study.
Informed Consent
Participants read and agreed to participate in this study via an informed consent document prior to beginning the study.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Use of Artificial Intelligence Statement
Artificial Intelligence was not used.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Met BSL Psychologie Totaal blijf je als professional steeds op de hoogte van de nieuwste ontwikkelingen binnen jouw vak. Met het online abonnement heb je toegang tot een groot aantal boeken, protocollen, vaktijdschriften en e-learnings op het gebied van psychologie en psychiatrie. Zo kun je op je gemak en wanneer het jou het beste uitkomt verdiepen in jouw vakgebied.
