Effects of online self-compassionate writing on stigmatizing and affirming self-perceptions: Potential boundary conditions in undergraduate women

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of an online self-compassionate writing intervention on stigmatizing and affirming self-views toward the body in a sample of college women (N = 254). Participants were randomly assigned to a self-compassionate writing, attentional-control writing, or wait-list control condition for one week, and completed measures of self-compassion, affirming self-perceptions, and stigmatizing self-perceptions at baseline, one-week post intervention, and one-month post intervention. A series of mixed AN(C)OVAs revealed no significant effects by condition or time on stigmatizing or affirming self-views toward the body when controlling for self-esteem, internalized weight stigma, and eating disorder symptomatology. Follow-up exploratory analyses demonstrated no significant effects by condition on the six facets of self-compassion. Notably, participants were significantly more likely to drop out from the study over time if they were lower in self-compassion and self-esteem, and higher in internalized weight stigma at baseline. These results suggest that online self-compassion writing interventions may need to be longer and more potent, especially for women with more entrenched and stigmatized views about their bodies, as well as potential boundary conditions of cultivating self-compassion in a short-term online intervention.

Keywords: Fear of self-compassion; Online intervention; Self-affirmation; Self-compassion; Self-esteem; Self-perceptions; Self-stigma; Short-term longitudinal.