Associations Among Self-Compassion, Mindful Eating, Eating Disorder Symptomatology, and Body Mass Index in College Students

This study investigated the relationships among self-compassion, mindful eating, eating disorder symptomatology, and body mass index. Participants (N = 150) were college students. Average body mass index was 23.02 [(weight in pounds/height in inches2) × 703]; average age was 19.23 years. Participants completed measures of self-compassion, mindful eating, and disordered eating and provided self-reported height and weight. Higher self-compassion predicted lower body mass index and eating disorder symptomatology. In addition, higher self-compassion predicted higher mindful eating and explained a notable 11% of variance in mindful eating. These findings have implications for the development and testing of self-compassion mindful-eating (SC-ME) training programs on college campuses that are oriented toward improving body image, reducing eating disorder symptomatology, decreasing mindless eating, and preventing weight gain.