Body dissatisfaction is a notable concern among college students. Spirituality and selfcompassion 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), selfcompassion, 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 selfcompassion than those who did not participate. Athletes had significantly higher selfcompassion 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.
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