The Virtual Destruction of Self-Compassion: Cyberbullying’s Damage to Young Adults

Abstract

There is significant variation in the degree to which various religions systematically condemn same-sex ABSTRACT. The current research investigated whether priming students with a religious message affected their attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. Undergraduate students (N = 145) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: participants in a religious-positive condition were primed with a biblical passage containing a loving message (e.g., "love one another, for love comes from God"), participants in a religious-negative condition were primed with a biblical passage containing an angry message (e.g., "God takes revenge on all who oppose him"), and participants in a control condition were primed with a neutral passage. After reading the priming passage, participants completed questionnaires assessing various measures of religiosity such as religiousness, spirituality, religious affiliation, extrinsic and intrinsic religious orientation, religious fundamentalism, and their attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. Consistent with previous research, religiosity was negatively related to attitudes toward lesbians and gay men (ps < .01). Self-identified Christians had more negative attitudes toward lesbians and gay men (p = .002, η p 2 = .12) than participants of other religious affiliations. However, there was no effect of the priming manipulation on attitudes toward lesbians and gay men (p = .88, η p 2 = .009).

Recalled childhood bullying victimization and shame in adulthood: The influence of attachment security, self-compassion, and emotion regulation.

“…Without adaptive cognitive coping strategies to regain mastery or self-esteem in a situation, individuals who are bullied may experience low self-compassion and increased shame. One study on the relationship between cyberbullying experiences and self-compassion in 232 undergraduates found that victimization experiences negatively correlated with three aspects of self-compassion: self-judgment, isolation, and overidentification (Potts & Weidler, 2015). Boulton (2013) used retrospective measures to study the effects of childhood experiences of being bullied on social anxiety in adults, looking at self-blame and style of coping as moderators.…”

The Relationship Between Being Bullied and Addictive Internet Use Among Chinese Rural Adolescents: The Mediating Effect of Adult Attachment

“…One study found that higher levels of bullying in childhood predicted greater social anxiety in later life (Boulton, 2013). Another study found that victimization experiences negatively correlated with three aspects of self-compassion: self-judgment, isolation, and over-identification (Potts & Weidler, 2015), which were correlated with close attachment styles (Beduna, & Perrone-McGovern, 2019). Taking the above evidence into consideration, this study assumes that adolescents who experience bullying will exhibit diminished close attachment and increased anxiety attachment with others.…”

Internalized weight stigma in women with class III obesity: A randomized controlled trial of a virtual lifestyle modification intervention followed by a mindful self‐compassion intervention

“…Self‐compassion has also been implicated in ameliorating the adverse effects of stigma, Internalized‐WS, and/or shame on distress and eating behaviors 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 including among people with obesity, 9 , 27 , 28 and is associated with less distress in response to dietary lapses and with improved eating behaviors such as intuitive eating. 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 Self‐compassion training is also linked to improvement in eating behaviors and perceived stress, 14 , 32 including via remotely‐delivered treatment, 33 with a recent review suggesting small if promising effects on weight loss.…”