A pilot randomized trial of self‐compassion writing for young adult women engaged in emotional eating in the context of appearance‐related cyberbullying

Abstract Objective To investigate the effectiveness of a 10‐min self‐compassion writing in alleviating body dissatisfaction, self‐objectification, and emotional eating in young adult women engaged in emotional eating in the context of appearance‐related cyberbullying. Method A total of 175 Chinese young adult women ( M age = 20.90, SD = 1.65) were randomly assigned to one of the three groups: self‐compassion, distraction, or control group. At baseline, participants completed assessments of trait and state body dissatisfaction, trait self‐objectification, trait self‐compassion, emotional eating, and positive and negative affect. Then they needed to recall an appearance‐related cyberbullying victimization experience, after which state body dissatisfaction, state self‐objectification, and positive and negative affect were measured. After the intervention, participants completed measures of state body dissatisfaction, state self‐objectification, positive and negative affect, state self‐compassion, and a food‐choosing task. At 1‐month follow‐up, participants completed measures of trait body dissatisfaction, trait self‐objectification, trait self‐compassion, and emotional eating. Results At post‐intervention, state body dissatisfaction and negative affect were significantly lower, and positive affect was significantly higher in both the self‐compassion and distraction groups compared to control. State self‐objectification was significantly lower in the self‐compassion group than in the other two groups. At 1‐month follow‐up, the self‐compassion group showed significantly lower levels of body dissatisfaction than the control group. Discussion The findings provide initial evidence for the potential of self‐compassion writing in reducing state self‐objectification and state body dissatisfaction in the context of appearance‐related cyberbullying. Public Significance Appearance‐related cyberbullying, a common phenomenon in social networking sites, has been documented to associate with appearance‐related concerns and disordered eating in young adult women. However, effective interventions that can reduce these negative associations are scarce. This study preliminarily found that a brief self‐compassion writing could be a potential intervention for reducing state self‐objectification and state body dissatisfaction in young adult women who had suffered appearance‐related cyberbullying.