Objective: Self-stigma in overweight and obese individuals has strong associations with impairment in mental and global health. This study sought to explore self-compassion as a psychological resource in the self-stigma process. Methods: In a 2012 representative German population survey of N = 1,158 overweight and obese individuals, self-compassion was examined as a mediator between self-stigma and mental and physical health outcomes, including BMI (kg/m 2 ), using structural equation modeling and controlling for sociodemographic
factors. Results: Psychological variables were assessed using validated self-report questionnaires. Self-compassion partially mediated the relationships between self-stigma and depression, somatic symptoms, and health status / quality of life, lowering the predictive effect of
self-stigma on the outcomes by approximately one-third. In contrast, self-compassion, because it was unrelated to BMI, did not mediate the association between self-stigma and BMI. Conclusion: Self-compassion has the potential to act as a buffer against the mental and global health detriments of self-stigma in overweight and obesity and could thus represent a target for interventions to reduce self-stigma and prevent these health impairments. In order to influence the association between self-stigma and BMI, self-compassion should conceptually be linked to weight management.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:13644 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Hilbert, Anja, Braehler, Elmar, Schmidt, Ricarda, Löwe, Bernd, Häuser, Winfried, Zenger, Markus |
| Contributors | Universität Leipzig, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, Klinikum Saarbrücken gGmbH, Technische Universität München |
| Publisher | Karger |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Source | Obesity facts 2015;8:293–301 |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 10.1159/000438681 |
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