BODY IMAGE AND SELF-COMPASSION AMONG ADOLESCENTS

e-ISSN: 2582-5208 International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering Technology and Science Volume:02/Issue:10/ October -2020

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BODY IMAGE AND SELF-COMPASSION AMONG ADOLESCENTS Nimisha. K. A*1, Sannet Thomas*2 *13rd year B. Sc. Psychology Student, Yuvakshetra Institute of Management Studies, Mundoor, Palakkad, Kerala – 678631 *2Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology Yuvakshetra Institute of Management Studies, Mundoor, Palakkad, Kerala - 678631

ABSTRACT Body image is a complex construct constituting the following configuration: emotional experience related to the body and function as well as mental concept (perception and thoughts) regarding physical appearance (Cash & Purinzky , 2004).Self compassion is composed of 3 main components – self blindness , common humanity ,and mindfulness(Neff , 2003) .Adolescents are persons who are in a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during period from puberty to legal adulthood. The present study aimed at investigating the body image and self-compassion among adolescents. The Multi-Dimensional Body-Self Questionnaire (Thomas F Cash, 2000) and SelfCompassion Scale (Kristen Neff, 2003) was employed to assess the body image and self-compassion among adolescents. The study was carried out on a sample of 120 adolescents comprising of 60 males and 60 females through purposive sampling technique. Data was analysed by using mean, standard deviation, one-way ANOVA and Pearson product moment correlation. From the result it was clear that there is a correlation between appearance orientation and self-compassion among adolescents, there is a correlation between self-classified weight and self-compassion among adolescents, there is a correlation between overweight preoccupation and self-compassion among adolescents and also there is a correlation between body area satisfaction and self-compassion among adolescents. Also that females have high level of appearance evaluation, appearance orientation, self-classified weight, overweight preoccupation and body area satisfaction than males, and the males slightly have higher self-compassion than females.

Keywords; Body Image, Self-compassion, Adolescents.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Body image' refers to a person's aesthetics or sexual attractiveness of their own body. According to Cash & Pruzinsky (2004) body image is a complex construct constituting the following configuration: emotional experience related to its body and function as well as mental concept (perception and thoughts ) regarding physical appearance. Body image is also been defined as the cognition and affect regarding body , body importance , dieting behaviour ,and perceptual body image (Bainfield & McCabe,2002). This definition indicates that body image is a combination of how an individual pictures or perceives their physical self and how they feel about their body.

‘Self-compassion' is a construct from Buddhist refers to self attitude and self evaluation(Neff , 2003).

According to Neff, compassion has three components with two parts each that are exhibited during times of pain and failure. (1).being kind and understanding towards oneself rather than being self-critical (2).seeing ones fallibility as part of larger human condition and experience rather than as isolating and (3).holding ones thoughts and feelings in mindful awareness rather than avoiding them or over identifying with them.

Self-compassion and body image, both are concerned to the self-approach .Adolescents are the group who are greatly excited with their body image but also they are the most vulnerable to be badly affected by the threaten of body shaming. Subjecting to body shaming in such a period of life where the child grows to a man by developing his emotional skills may adversely affect the psychosocial functioning in the later stages of his or her life. Therefor it is urgent to have a positive body image for them. Self-compassion,

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e-ISSN: 2582-5208 International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering Technology and Science Volume:02/Issue:10/ October -2020

Impact Factor- 5.354

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where a person treats oneself as a loved friend may demonstrate beneficial associations with body image.

And this research intends to explore the relationship between body image and self-compassion.

Defintion of Key Terms • Body image- body image is a complex construct constituting the following configuration emotional experience related to its body and function as well as mental concept (perception and thoughts ) regarding physical appearance. • Self-compassion - According to Neff, compassion has three components with two parts each that are exhibited during times of pain and failure. (1).being kind and understanding towards oneself rather than being self-critical (2).seeing ones fallibility as part of larger human condition and experience rather than as isolating and (3).holding ones thoughts and feelings in mindful awareness rather than avoiding them or over identifying with them.

II.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Barnard and Curry in 2011 reviewed empirical correlates of self-compassion, theoretical and empirical support behind interventions theorised to increase self-compassion. Based on their study they came to the conclusion that empirical work on the correlates of self-compassion, demonstrating that selfcompassion has consistently been found to be related to wellbeing. MacBeth and Gumley provided the first survey on association the literature on the relevance of compassion to psycho-pathology .It was established that the measure of self-compassion predominantly via SCS(Neff, 2003) provides replicable findings liking increased self-compassion to lower levels of mental health symptom. Tosca.D.Brown & Crystal L.park have examined evidence indicating self-compassion as a protective factor in the concept of body image. In their review ,28 studies supporting the role of self-compassion as a protective factor against poor body image and eating pathology are reviewed. Shermann A.Kerry etal., have examined changing image , distress and self-compassion among breast cancer patients. The aim of the study was to assess the efficacy of a brief Web-based therapeutic writing intervention(My Changed Body, MyCB) for Body Image related Distress (BID) in Breast Cancer Survivors (BCS) .They found that BCSs undertaking MyCB demonstrated lower BID and greater body appreciation.

III.

METHOD

Aim The present study aimed at investigating the body image and self-compassion among adolescents.

Problem Is there a relationship between self-compassion and body image among adolescents?

How are Self-compassion and Body image are related among adolescents?

Objectives 1.To examine the relationship between body image and self-compassion among adolescents.

2.To compare self-compassion and body image among adolescents based on gender.

Variables Dependent variable; Body image, Self-compassion Independent variable; Gender Hypothesis 1.There will be no significant difference in Appearance Evaluation among adolescents based on gender.

2.There will be no significant difference in Appearance orientation among adolescents based on gender 3.There will be no significant difference in Body areas satisfaction among adolescents based on gender 4.There will be no significant difference between Overweight preoccupation and Self compassion 5.There will be significant difference in Self classified weight among adolescents based on gender

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e-ISSN: 2582-5208 International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering Technology and Science Volume:02/Issue:10/ October -2020

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6.There will be no correlation between Appearance Evaluation and Self-compassion among adolescents 7.There will be no correlation between in Appearance orientation and Self-compassion among adolescents 8.There will be no correlation between Self classified weight and Self-compassion among adolescents 9.There will be no correlation between Overweight preoccupation and Self compassion among adolescents 10.There will be no correlation between Body areas satisfaction and Self-compassion among adolescents.

IV.

RESEARCH DESIGN

The study is following qualitative type of research design. As this study is aimed for finding out the relationship between two variables – body image and self-compassion, it is a correlational study. The research also adopted between group research design for finding out the significant difference in the body image and self-compassion among adolescents across their gender Research Sample Random sampling was used as sampling technique for selecting participants. Participants constituted adolescents within an age group of 15 to 18. The sample size was 120 out of which 60 were males and 60 females respectively. Purposive sampling technique was used for selecting the participants Tools The following tools were administered to each participants in order to collect the required information,   

Socio-demographic data Multi-Dimensional Body-Self Questionnaire (Thomas F Cash, 2000) Self-Compassion Scale (Kristen Neff, 2003)

Procedure The purpose of study was explained to the participants and their willingness to participate in the was ascertained through online. The sociodemographic sheet, Multi-Dimensional Body-Self Questionnaire (Thomas F Cash, 2000) and the Self-Compassion Scale (Kristen Neff, 2003) were provided to the participants through online forms. Proper instructions were given before each questionnaire. Responses were collected from all the participants. The scoring and interpretation of the responses were done according to the manual.

Analysis of Data The collected data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20. The following statistical tests were used, 1.

2.

3.

Mean, Standard Deviation One-way ANOVA Pearson’s product moment correlation.

Ethical issues 1.

2.

3.

Confidentiality, of the information obtained from the participants, was maintained throughout the study.

The collected data has been used only for research purpose.

Informed consent was taken from the participants, through online, before collecting the data.

V.

RESULTS

Data Analysis and Interpretation The main purpose of the study was to investigate the body image and self-compassion among adolescents. For this purpose 10 hypothesis were formulated. Results are shown in the table given below

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Table-1 One-way ANOVA appearance evaluation, appearance orientation, self-classified weight, body area satisfaction scale , preoccupied weight and self-compassion.

VARIABLES

GENDER Male

Self-compassion

Appearance evaluation

Appearance orientation

Self-classified weight

Overweight preoccupation

Body area satisfaction scale

Female

Male Female

Male Female

Male Female

Male Female

Male Female

N 60 60 120 60 60 120 60 60 120 60 60 120 60 60 120 60 60 120

MEAN

SD

3.2967

.47299

3.2000

.51552

3.2595

.49501

3.6733

.50686

3.7900

.53257

3.2483

52099

3.0783

.46871

3.2167

.46729

3.1475

.47118

3.0783

.46871

3.2167

.46729

3.1475

.47118

3.0783

.38264

3.2167

.37859

3.1475

.38696

3.2283

.38624

3.3650

.37859

3.2967

.38696

SS (between groups)

Df

Sig

29.160

119

.287

32.300

119

.221

26.419

119

.108

26.419

119

.108

17.819

119

.108

17.819

119

.108

Table- 1 shows the gender difference on subscales of body image and self-compassion and the data was analysed through one-way ANOVA. The analysis of data shows that females have high level of appearance evaluation, appearance orientation, self-classified weight, overweight preoccupation and body area satisfaction than males, and the males slightly higher self-compassion than females. So the null hypothesis 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are accepted. That is, there is no significant difference in the appearance evaluation, appearance orientation, self-classified weight, overweight preoccupation, body area satisfaction and selfcompassion among adolescents across gender.

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e-ISSN: 2582-5208 International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering Technology and Science Volume:02/Issue:10/ October -2020

Impact Factor- 5.354

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Table-2 Correlation between variables SELF-COMPASSION Appearance evaluation

Pearson correlation

.180

Sig(2-tailed)

.049

N

120

Appearance orientation

Pearson correlation

-.198

Sig(2-tailed)

.030

N

120

Overweight preoccupation

Pearson correlation

-.198

Sig(2-tailed)

.030

N

120

Self-classified weight

Pearson correlation

-.198

Sig(2-tailed)

.030

N

120

Body area satisfaction

Pearson correlation

Sig(2-tailed)

-.136 .137

N

120

Table-2 shows that the null hypothesis 6 was accepted, that is, there is no correlation between appearance evaluation and self-compassion. Also hypotheses 7, 8, 9,and 10 were rejected and the result show that there is a correlation between appearance orientation and self-compassion among adolescents, there is a correlation between self-classified weight and self-compassion among adolescents, there is a correlation between overweight preoccupation and self-compassion among adolescents and also there is a correlation between body area satisfaction and self-compassion among adolescents

VI.         

MAJOR FINDINGS

Female have high level of Appearance evaluation, Appearance orientation, Self-classified weight, Overweight preoccupation and Body area satisfaction than males among adolescents.

Males have slightly high level of Self-compassion than females among adolescents.

There is no significant difference in Appearance evaluation and Self-compassion among adolescents across gender.

There is no significant difference in Appearance orientation and Self-compassion among adolescents across gender There is no significant difference in Self-classified weight and Self-compassion among adolescents across gender There is no significant difference in Overweight preoccupation and Self-compassion among adolescents across gender There is no significant difference in Body area satisfaction and Self-compassion among adolescents across gender There is a significant correlation between Appearance orientation and Self-compassion among adolescents.

There is a significant correlation between Self-classified weight and Self-compassion among adolescents.

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There is a significant correlation between Overweight preoccupation and Self-compassion among adolescents.

There is a significant correlation between Body area satisfaction and Self-compassion among adolescents.

Limitations    

The sample size was small.

Only quantitative research method was used.

The sample size was restricted to a specific age group only.

As the study was conducted via online survey forms, the genuineness and openness of the participants, while answering cannot be ensured.

Implications   

Introducing interventions to promote a positive body image will be effective if inco-operated with programs of self-compassion.

As the study showed that male adolescents have slightly lower positive body image, some interventions can be implemented to construct a more confident body image among them.

We can develop many intervention plans for reducing negative body image concept and also for the enhancing self-compassion.

Scope of the study  

Further study can be done on a larger population.

The study can be broadened by inclusion of other categories of age.

VII.

CONCLUSION

The result reported that self-compassion is closely associated with indices of body image among adolescents. The result indicated that the Appearance orientation and 2 is negatively correlated. Similarly Overweight preoccupation has a negative co-relation with 2.And there exists a negative correlation between Self-classified weight and 2.Also Body area satisfaction and 2 are negatively correlated. The result also indicated that there is no significant difference Appearance evaluation, Appearance orientation, Overweight preoccupation, Self-classified weight and Body area satisfaction among adolescents across gender.

VIII. [1] [2] [3]

REFERENCE

Cash. T.F.,& Fleming. E.C.(2002).Body image and social relations T.F. Cash & T. Pruzinsky, Body image a handbook of theory, research and clinical practice(pp.277-286).

Neff. K.D(2003).Self compassion : An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude towards oneself. Self and Identity.(pp.85-101).

Grogan. S.(2008).Body image ;Understanding body dissatisfaction in men, women and children(2nd ed.).(pp.148-152).

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