Weight and body shape dissatisfaction and eating psychopathology: the buffering effect of self-compassion in women with secure and insecure attachment styles
Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Attachment style has been linked in literature to eating psychopathology and to self-compassion and research has proposed self-compassion as a possible protective factor against eating psychopathology. The present study explores the association between attachment style, self-compassion and eating psychopathology severity and examines the moderator effect of self-compassion, in both securely and insecurely attached women, on the relationship between weight and body dissatisfaction and eating psychopathology. Participants in this study were women who were assessed using self-report instruments measuring attachment style, weight and body shape dissatisfaction and eating psychopathology (EDE-Q). Self-compassion was negatively correlated to weight and body shape dissatisfaction and eating psychopathology in both groups, and had a moderator effect on the relationship between weight and body shape dissatisfaction and eating psychopathology severity in the insecure attachment group. This is the first study to explore the differential buffering effect of self-compassion against the impact of weight and body shape dissatisfaction on eating psychopathology severity, when considering attachment style, with pertinent research and clinical implications.
Author: Jessica Lopes
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2418066889