The Relationship Among Spirituality, Self-Compassion, and Body Satisfaction in College Students

Body dissatisfaction is a notable concern among college students. Spirituality and self-compassion have been associated with body satisfaction, but minimal research has examined all three of those relationships. Therefore, we examined the relationship among spirituality, self-compassion, and body satisfaction. Participants included 307 college students (70.4% women; 71.3% White; 50.2% Christian) who completed online questionnaires on three types of spirituality (ritualistic, theistic, and existential), self-compassion, body satisfaction, and other related variables to spirituality (participating in intensive outdoor programs and/or as an athlete). Ritualistic spirituality was correlated with higher self-compassion, but there was not a significant correlation among theistic/ existential spirituality and self-compassion. There was also not a significant correlation among the three types of spirituality and body satisfaction, but self-compassion was strongly correlated with body satisfaction. However, individuals who had high ritualistic spirituality had significantly higher levels of self-compassion and body satisfaction than individuals with low ritualistic spirituality. Individuals who participated in at least one intensive outdoor program had significantly higher existential spirituality and self-compassion than those who did not participate. Athletes had significantly higher self-compassion and body satisfaction than nonathletes. Men had higher self-compassion than women, but there were no other gender differences. Spirituality and self-compassion could be potential targets for improving body satisfaction; however, further research is needed to examine the causality of those relationships.