title: A daily diary study of self-compassion, body image, and eating behavior in female college students.
abstract: Although self-compassion is associated with healthier body image and eating behavior, these findings have generally emerged at the between-persons level only. The present study investigated the unique contributions of within-person variability in self-compassion, and between-persons differences in self-compassion, to body image and eating behavior. Over seven days, 92 female college students completed nightly measures of self-compassion, self-esteem, dietary restraint, intuitive eating, body appreciation, body satisfaction, and state body image. Multilevel modeling revealed that within-persons, day-to-day fluctuations in self-compassion contributed to day-to-day fluctuations in body image and eating. Between-persons, participants' average levels of self-compassion across days contributed to their average levels of body image and eating over the week. Results generally held when controlling for within- and between-persons self-esteem. Evidently, the eating and body image benefits of self-compassion may come not only from being a generally self-compassionate person, but also from treating oneself more self-compassionately than usual on a given day.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada. Electronic address: allison.kelly@uwaterloo.ca.
authors.forename: Allison C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada. Electronic address: estephen@uwaterloo.ca.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stephen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D057215:Body Dysmorphic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D015930:Diet Records; D004645:Empathy; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011594:Psychometrics; D012649:Self Concept; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Body appreciation; Body image; Disordered eating; Intuitive eating; Self-compassion; Self-esteem