Self-Compassion and Body Dissatisfaction in Men: Extension of the Tripartite Influence Model

Self-compassion, an increasingly popular psychological construct, has been associated with masculine norm adherence, shame, and rumination. However, limited research has considered the relationship between self-compassion and body image; a construct that heavily overlaps with masculinity for men in contemporary Western culture. This study examined the relationship between self-compassion, body dissatisfaction, and sociocultural processes (social comparison, internalization of appearance ideals) in 231 Australian men aged between 18 and 51 years (M = 28.53, SD = 9.85). Results showed that high self-compassion, low social comparison, and low internalization predicted lower levels of body dissatisfaction. Specifically, the self-compassion subcomponents of Isolation, Mindfulness, and Common Humanity were the strongest predictors of body dissatisfaction. Additionally, self-compassion moderated the relationship between internalization of lean appearance ideals and body fat dissatisfaction. That is, lean internalization and body fat dissatisfaction were strongly correlated for men with low self-compassion, and weakly correlated for men with high self-compassion. These findings highlight the protective function that self-compassion may play within the sociocultural context of male body image. Further research is needed to understand how self-compassion interacts with measures of masculinity to predict body image outcomes for men.