"Dear Past Me, Know That You Are Deserving of Compassion and Care": Self-Compassionate Writings of Adolescent Girls Recalling Weight-Stigmatizing Events in Physical Activity

Adolescent girls often face weight-stigmatizing experiences in physical activity contexts. Self-compassion inductions may be useful in mitigating the harmful psychological consequences of these events. Self-compassionate writing inductions are easy to administer, cost-effective, and have demonstrated effectiveness in acutely increasing self-compassion scores in adolescents. However, it is unclear how adolescent girls apply the components of self-compassion to manage difficult emotions (e.g., shame) that arise from recalling weight-stigmatizing events, and if these applications align with theoretical conceptualizations of self-compassion. The present qualitative study examined the written entries of a self-compassionate writing task completed by adolescent girls (n = 101) in response to a recalled negative weight-related experience that occurred in the context of physical activity. Using deductive content analysis, the written entries were compared against a coding structure that was informed by theoretical conceptualizations of self-compassion (e.g., self-kindness, common humanity, mindfulness). On average, 72% of written entries were in alignment with conceptual tenets of self-kindness, 75% with common humanity, and 72% with mindfulness. Common challenges with applying self-compassion included demonstrating care toward the self in response to distress, empathizing with the experience of others, and overidentification. It is possible that challenges with applying self-compassion are exacerbated by culturally endorsed beliefs surrounding weight, particularly as related to physical activity. These findings can inform the development and optimization of future self-directed self-compassion inductions for adolescents in response to weight-stigmatizing events and may have utility in broader applications of self-compassionate writing interventions.