An empirical phenomenology of young adult women exercisers' body self‐compassion

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore young adult women exercisers' body self‐compassion. Five women between the ages of 23 and 28 years participated, and their interviews were analysed using an empirical phenomenology method. Three essential structures emerged: appreciating one's unique body, taking ownership of one's body and engaging in less social comparison. A facilitating structure, the importance of others, is also discussed. The findings of this study are consistent with the general conceptualisation of self‐compassion previously proposed without merely replicating the three components of self‐compassion: self‐kindness, common humanity and mindfulness.

Keywords:

• self‐compassion
• self‐esteem
• women
• exercise
• phenomenology
• physical self

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). We would like to thank the women whose participation made this research possible. The first two authors made equal contributions in the writing of this paper.

Notes

1. Although we originally planned to use the term ‘physical self‐compassion’, to be consistent with the self‐esteem literature and the concept of physical self‐worth, as the study evolved we decided to go with the term ‘body self‐compassion’ instead. The participants themselves primarily used the term ‘body’ when describing their experiences throughout the interviews, and therefore we thought it a more appropriate term to use in the context of this study.

2. To our knowledge, the only study on self‐compassion that has employed qualitative methods is Gilbert and Iron's (2004) pilot study, which included both qualitative data collection methods (e.g., diary entries) and quantitative data collection methods (e.g., ratings of self‐criticism).

3. While not essential to its structure in any given instance, body self‐compassion was described as a dynamic process by the participants in the study. This feature of body self‐compassion is not discussed due to space limitations; however, a summary of how self‐compassion showed itself as a dynamic phenomenon in the lives of the women is available upon request from the authors.

4. Locations of direct quotes from the participants’ transcripts are referenced using the following format: participant name, page number (IP or FP), line number (L). IP = individual interview page number, FP = focus group page number.