Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of mindful self-compassion on a negative body image of female university students. For this purpose, 24 female university students, who suffered from a negative body image, were recruited and randomly assigned to either the intervention group(n=13) or the control group(n=11). Then, students in each group were asked to assess body surveillance, body shame, and sociocultural attitude towards appearance, including internalization and awareness, self-esteem at pre-test and post-test. This study found that the intervention group reported significantly larger decreases in body surveillance, body shame and sociocultural attitude toward appearance, including internalization and awareness, as well as a greater increase in self-esteem compared to the control group. These results suggested that mindful self-compassion could be useful for improving a negative body image. Finally, limitation of the present study and suggestions for further studies were discussed.