UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF-COMPASSION AND BODY DISSATISFACTION

Body dissatisfaction is the result of a person’s negative perception, thoughts, and feelings regarding their own body. Research suggests that two protective factors— (1) self-compassion, a positive attitude of self-acceptance despite one’s flaws, and (2) gratitude, the capability to notice and appreciate the positive aspects of life—may help reduce body dissatisfaction. However, more work is needed to replicate these results. This thesis has two aims: 1) to provide further evidence for the effectiveness of identified protective factors in reducing body dissatisfaction, specifically self-compassion, and gratitude and 2) to examine a range of potential mechanisms that may explain the relationship between the key predictors (self- compassion, gratitude) and body dissatisfaction. This thesis reports three online studies that address these questions, with samples of adult women recruited in the United Kingdom. Results from Study 1 showed that self-compassion, rather than gratitude, significantly predicted lower levels of body dissatisfaction. Furthermore, Study 3 demonstrated that participating in a three- week meditation programme—whether focused on self-compassion or relaxation—increased women’s levels of trait self-compassion over time and reduced their levels of body dissatisfaction. Studies 1, 2 and 3 also explored various possible mediators of the relationship between self-compassion and body dissatisfaction: self-objectification (Study 1), cognitive mechanisms (positive momentary-thought action repertoires and negative momentary-thought action repertoires; Study 2), implicit associations (appearance schema activation and non- appearance schema activation; Study 2), affective mechanisms (positive affect and negative affect; Studies 2 and 3), and body image resilience (Study 3). Results showed that positive affect and body image resilience were the only significant mediators underpinning the relationship between self-compassion and body dissatisfaction. Overall, this research work can help women to love, accept and appreciate their body and to become more comfortable with themselves, regardless of their body flaws.