The relationship of positive body image to self-compassion and ethnic identity in adult women

Abstract

A positive body image is theorized to be more than the absence of a negative body image, which has been the primary focus of research. Self-compassion, ethnic identity, and age are all variables that have been shown to be important to healthy self-concept in women, and there is some initial evidence that they may also be important for positive body image (Smith & Silva, 2011; Wasylkiw, MacKinnon, & MacLellan, 2012) This study investigated the role of self-compassion and ethnic identity in positive body image in a diverse sample of adult women. Participants (n=291) completed an online survey consisting of the Body Appreciation Scale (Avalos, Tylka, & Wood-Barcalow, 2005), Multi-Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney & Ong, 2007), Self-Compassion Scale (Neff, 2003b), and a demographic questionnaire. Overall, both self-compassion and ethnic identity accounted for a statistically significant variance in positive body image, which did not vary with women's age. Implications for future research and counseling interventions are discussed.