The Relationship between Body Image and Self-Esteem among Students: The Moderating Role of Self-Compassion

The present study aims to investigate the moderating role of self-compassion in the relationship between body image and self-esteem among students. To this end, 250 students were randomly selected through stratified multi-stage sampling based on gender in the University of Kashan (Iran) in 2015-2016 academic year. The respondents filled out Body Image Concern Inventory (2008), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (1965) and NEF Self-Compassion Scale (2003). Pearson Correlation and Hierarchical Regression Analysis were run to analyze the data in SPSS-22. The results indicated that body image concern has a significant, negative relationship with self-esteem and there is a significant, positive relationship between self-esteem and self-compassion. In addition, self-compassion significantly mediates the relationship between body image and self-esteem among students. Furthermore, as the self-compression increases, the relationship between body image concern and self-esteem becomes weaker. The findings imply that self-esteem could be promoted by reducing body image concern and paying more attention to self-compassion through developing suitable interventional protocols.