Examining Facets of Self-Compassion in Relation to Emotional and Disordered Eating Behaviors in a Treatment-Seeking Sample of Adults with Overweight/Obesity

Abstract

Abstract Research has focused on examining self-compassion broadly as opposed to examining unique relationships exist between negative and positive components of self-compassion and disordered and emotional eating, especially among adults with overweight/obesity. The current study is a secondary analysis of baseline data from treatment-seeking adults (n = 64; 96.8% female) with overweight/obesity. Correlational analyses revealed that higher emotional eating-depression was associated with lower common humanity, higher over-identification, and higher self-isolation. Greater disordered eating was associated with lower common humanity, higher self-judgment, higher over-identification, and lower self-kindness. No significant bivariate relations were observed between self-compassion facets and binge eating severity and emotional eating-anxiety/anger and -boredom. Regression analyses indicated that self-judgment, over-identification, and self-kindness, together, were significantly related to disordered eating. Common humanity, over-identification, and self-isolation, together, were significantly related to emotional eating-depression. Targeting specific facets of self-compassion might be favorable in treating a range of problematic eating behaviors in people with overweight/obesity.