Correlation of self-compassion, BMI, depression, anxiety, stress and gender in individuals seeking obesity treatment and university students

Self-compassion has been linked to less depression, anxiety and stress as well as positive body image and healthy lifestyle choices. The main purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Self Compassion Scale in an Icelandic translation. Difference in self-compassion, depression, anxiety and stress between individuals with high and low BMI scores, i.e. in a sample of patients seeking treatment for obesity, and a sample of university students was also studied. The two samples consisted of 92 females and 22 males (student sample), and 50 females and 21 males (patient sample). Results showed a difference between the samples, on BMI, depression, anxiety and stress, where patients had higher scores compared to the student sample. Students had higher total self-compassion scores as well as higher scores on the subscales: mindfulness, self-kindness and common humanity than the patient sample. Gender difference was mostly not significant. The factor structure of the Icelandic version of the Self-Compassion Scale was found to have adequate structure with loading of six factors as intended for the original version in English. Reliability for four of six factors on the list were found to be good. The present findings support our hypothesis that obese patients have less self-compassion and more symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress than the student sample suggesting that more research on fostering self-compassion when dealing with adversities in life is warranted. Key words: Self-compassion, Self-Compassion Scale, Depression, Anxiety, Stress, BMI, Obesity, Psychometric properties