Self-compassion, difficulties in emotion regulation and eating psychopathology: Findings from an eating disorders clinical sample and a college sample

Introduction

Difficulties in emotion regulation (ER) are transdiagnostic in eating disorders (EDs). Self-compassion impacts ED-related outcomes by either preventing their initial establishment or interrupting/modifying their ongoing detrimental impact. Studies conducted in mixed samples found significantly lower levels of self-compassion in ED clinical samples. The main goal in this study was to explore the clinical profile presentation (in terms of transdiagnostic psychological processes) of participants within a continuum of eating psychopathology levels, through a two-step cluster analysis.

Methods

The ED clinical sample comprised 94 women aged between 18 and 60 years old (M = 29.5, SD = 10.2). The college sample included 274 female students aged between 18 and 56 years old (M = 21.2, SD = 4.7).

Results

Self-compassion facets significantly predicted overall difficulties in ER in both samples (clinical, F(6, 81) = 20.57, p < 0.001; R² = 0.60; college, F(6, 267) = 22.64, p < 0.001; R² = 0.34). The two-step cluster analysis resulted in an optimal solution of three clusters: low profile – C1; intermediate profile – C2; and severe profile – C3. Self-criticism and self-compassion were the strongest predictor variables, contributing 100% and 98%, respectively, to clustering membership. Self-compassion was a significant moderator on the relationship between difficulties in ER and eating psychopathology (b = −0.02, t(357) = 3.38, p < 0.001; R² = 0.43).

Discussion

Fostering self-compassionate skills and addressing self-criticism and experiential avoidance (including experiential therapeutic components) as they become prominent during the therapeutic process, may be influential to successfully implement specific ER skills and enhance therapeutic gains.