Self-compassion and cognitive reappraisal restore female adolescents' body satisfaction and appreciation after appearance-related rumination

Rumination regarding appearance is a major cause of body dissatisfaction among adolescents. Body image concerns in this age group may lead to considerable psychological distress. Studies suggest that adaptive emotion regulation strategies such as cognitive reappraisal and self-compassion can counteract the harmful consequences of rumination. The goal of the current study was to assess if and to what extent cognitive reappraisal and self-compassion can improve female adolescents' body satisfaction and appreciation after engaging in appearance-related rumination. Using an experimental design, 142 healthy female adolescents underwent an appearance-related rumination induction. Following this, participants were randomly allocated to one of three experimental conditions requiring to implement either self-compassion, cognitive reappraisal, or rumination using a writing task. State body dissatisfaction and appreciation were assessed at baseline, post-appearance rumination, and post- writing tasks. Appearance-related rumination increased state body dissatisfaction and reduced body appreciation in all groups. Importantly, state body dissatisfaction and appreciation fully restored to their baseline levels after implementing self-compassion and cognitive reappraisal, but not rumination. The findings provide empirical evidence regarding the negative consequences of appearance-related rumination among adolescents and demonstrate how adaptive emotion regulation strategies can assist in coping efficiently with appearance-related rumination.