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Exploring the paths between self-compassionate attributes and actions, body compassion and disordered eating

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Abstract

The relationship between self-compassion and well-being and health (e.g. a lower proneness for eating-related disturbances) is well stressed in the literature. However, the specific contribution of self-compassionate attributes, actions, and body compassion remains scarcely studied. The main aim of the present study was to examine whether the link between self-compassionate attributes and disordered eating attitudes and behaviours is mediated by self-compassionate actions and body compassion, in a sample of 299 Portuguese women from the general population. The tested model explained 44% of eating psychopathology’s variance and presented excellent fit indices. The most interesting contribution of this study was the suggestion that the ability to act in accordance with self-compassionate attributes is associated with higher levels of body compassion, that is, an attitude of appreciation, acceptance, warmth toward body-related thoughts, perceptions and feelings, which reflects in a lower susceptibility to adopt disordered eating attitudes and behaviours. These results seem to offer an important contribution for research and clinical practice by supporting the importance of including strategies to develop self-compassionate skills and body compassion competencies in prevention and treatment programs in the area of eating psychopathology.

Level of evidence Level III, evidence obtained from a well-designed cohort.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Margarida de Carvalho Barreto

  2. CINEICC-Centre for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Behavioural Intervention, Universidade de Coimbra, Rua do Colégio Novo, Apartado 6153, 3001-802, Coimbra, Portugal

    Cláudia Ferreira, Joana Marta-Simões & Ana Laura Mendes

Authors
  1. Margarida de Carvalho Barreto
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  2. Cláudia Ferreira
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  3. Joana Marta-Simões
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  4. Ana Laura Mendes
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joana Marta-Simões.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The present study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra (Portugal), and has been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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de Carvalho Barreto, M., Ferreira, C., Marta-Simões, J. et al. Exploring the paths between self-compassionate attributes and actions, body compassion and disordered eating. Eat Weight Disord 25, 291–297 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-018-0581-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-018-0581-3

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