Faculty
Social Science
Supervisor Name
Dr. Lindsay Bodell
Keywords
eating disorders, self-compassion, thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, binge eating, restricting
Description
Eating disorders come with a high risk of suicide, and this relationship is pervasively explained in the literature to be mediated through the two interpersonal needs that make up Joiner’s Interpersonal Theory of Suicide: thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness. These interpersonal needs have been shown to be directly related to eating disorder pathology such as lifetime fasting. There has also been a rise in the importance of engaging in self-compassion practices to help manage eating disorder symptoms. As such, this study looked at self-compassion as a moderator in the association between eating disorder pathology and both interpersonal needs, as well as in the association between disordered eating behavior (binge-eating and restricting) and both interpersonal needs. Participants were a sample of undergraduate students who completed a battery of questionnaires, including the EDE-Q short form, Self-Compassion Scale, Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire, and EPSI, in which the binge-eating and restricting subscales were analyzed. Running a multiple regression analysis on each model resulted in no statistical significance. Comparing the equations with and without the interaction in each model using an ANOVA analysis also resulted in no statistical significance. Therefore, based on the collected data, it can be concluded that self-compassion does not act as a moderator in these relationships. While these results do not discount the advantages of self-compassion as an intervention, future research can consider a clinical sample, a younger sample, suicidality as an outcome, or a different theory of suicide.
Acknowledgements
A special thank you to Dr. Lindsay Bodell and Genevieve Bianchini for all their guidance throughout this entire project, and thank you to the Western University USRI program and Faculty of Social Science for their support.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Document Type
Poster
Self-compassion as a moderator in the association between eating disorder pathology and interpersonal needs
Eating disorders come with a high risk of suicide, and this relationship is pervasively explained in the literature to be mediated through the two interpersonal needs that make up Joiner’s Interpersonal Theory of Suicide: thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness. These interpersonal needs have been shown to be directly related to eating disorder pathology such as lifetime fasting. There has also been a rise in the importance of engaging in self-compassion practices to help manage eating disorder symptoms. As such, this study looked at self-compassion as a moderator in the association between eating disorder pathology and both interpersonal needs, as well as in the association between disordered eating behavior (binge-eating and restricting) and both interpersonal needs. Participants were a sample of undergraduate students who completed a battery of questionnaires, including the EDE-Q short form, Self-Compassion Scale, Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire, and EPSI, in which the binge-eating and restricting subscales were analyzed. Running a multiple regression analysis on each model resulted in no statistical significance. Comparing the equations with and without the interaction in each model using an ANOVA analysis also resulted in no statistical significance. Therefore, based on the collected data, it can be concluded that self-compassion does not act as a moderator in these relationships. While these results do not discount the advantages of self-compassion as an intervention, future research can consider a clinical sample, a younger sample, suicidality as an outcome, or a different theory of suicide.