Self-talk as a mediator in the relationship between perfectionism and body image: a study of Polish women with overweight and obesity in the process of losing weight
Background A negative body image often stems from high standards in the physical domain and perfectionism, which leads to upsetting self-related experiences. Under these circumstances, self-talk may be a self-regulatory strategy. Therefore, we tested whether the relationship between perfectionism an...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Termedia Publishing House
2024-01-01
|
| Series: | Current Issues in Personality Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://cipp.ug.edu.pl/Self-talk-as-a-mediator-in-the-relationship-between-perfectionism-and-body-image,176936,0,2.html |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849322271684952064 |
|---|---|
| author | Małgorzata M. Puchalska-Wasyl Sylwia Kamionowska |
| author_facet | Małgorzata M. Puchalska-Wasyl Sylwia Kamionowska |
| author_sort | Małgorzata M. Puchalska-Wasyl |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background
A negative body image often stems from high standards in the physical domain and perfectionism, which leads to upsetting self-related experiences. Under these circumstances, self-talk may be a self-regulatory strategy. Therefore, we tested whether the relationship between perfectionism and body image was mediated by different types of self-talk.
Participants and procedure
Participants were 214 women with overweight or obesity in the process of losing weight. They completed the Body Attitude Test, the Self-Talk Scale, and the Polish Adaptive and Maladaptive Perfectionism Questionnaire.
Results
We found two parallel mediators in the analyzed relationship. Maladaptive perfectionism: (a) favored self-critical self-talk, which resulted in a negative body image; (b) decreased the chance of self-reinforcing self-talk, which could have prevented a negative body image from developing. Contrary to our hypothesis, social-assessing self-talk was not a mediator in this relationship.
Conclusions
Replication of the result that social-assessing self-talk is not a mediator in the studied relationship may be of great importance for psychological practice. It means that the unfavorable assessment of our body by others will not be a source of our negative body image as long as we do not begin to criticize ourselves and block praise directed at ourselves. Minimizing self-critical self-talk and replacing it with self-reinforcing self-talk may prove to be a promising path in therapeutic work to improve body image. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-466911f3b150476aaf3e7187f168cb95 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2353-4192 2353-561X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Termedia Publishing House |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Current Issues in Personality Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-466911f3b150476aaf3e7187f168cb952025-08-20T03:49:27ZengTermedia Publishing HouseCurrent Issues in Personality Psychology2353-41922353-561X2024-01-01131101710.5114/cipp/176936176936Self-talk as a mediator in the relationship between perfectionism and body image: a study of Polish women with overweight and obesity in the process of losing weightMałgorzata M. Puchalska-Wasyl0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4295-8308Sylwia Kamionowska1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1756-8263Department of Personality Psychology, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Lublin, PolandProvincial Centre for Addiction Prevention and Therapy, Łomża, PolandBackground A negative body image often stems from high standards in the physical domain and perfectionism, which leads to upsetting self-related experiences. Under these circumstances, self-talk may be a self-regulatory strategy. Therefore, we tested whether the relationship between perfectionism and body image was mediated by different types of self-talk. Participants and procedure Participants were 214 women with overweight or obesity in the process of losing weight. They completed the Body Attitude Test, the Self-Talk Scale, and the Polish Adaptive and Maladaptive Perfectionism Questionnaire. Results We found two parallel mediators in the analyzed relationship. Maladaptive perfectionism: (a) favored self-critical self-talk, which resulted in a negative body image; (b) decreased the chance of self-reinforcing self-talk, which could have prevented a negative body image from developing. Contrary to our hypothesis, social-assessing self-talk was not a mediator in this relationship. Conclusions Replication of the result that social-assessing self-talk is not a mediator in the studied relationship may be of great importance for psychological practice. It means that the unfavorable assessment of our body by others will not be a source of our negative body image as long as we do not begin to criticize ourselves and block praise directed at ourselves. Minimizing self-critical self-talk and replacing it with self-reinforcing self-talk may prove to be a promising path in therapeutic work to improve body image.https://cipp.ug.edu.pl/Self-talk-as-a-mediator-in-the-relationship-between-perfectionism-and-body-image,176936,0,2.htmlbody imageself-talkperfectionismwomen |
| spellingShingle | Małgorzata M. Puchalska-Wasyl Sylwia Kamionowska Self-talk as a mediator in the relationship between perfectionism and body image: a study of Polish women with overweight and obesity in the process of losing weight Current Issues in Personality Psychology body image self-talk perfectionism women |
| title | Self-talk as a mediator in the relationship between perfectionism and body image: a study of Polish women with overweight and obesity in the process of losing weight |
| title_full | Self-talk as a mediator in the relationship between perfectionism and body image: a study of Polish women with overweight and obesity in the process of losing weight |
| title_fullStr | Self-talk as a mediator in the relationship between perfectionism and body image: a study of Polish women with overweight and obesity in the process of losing weight |
| title_full_unstemmed | Self-talk as a mediator in the relationship between perfectionism and body image: a study of Polish women with overweight and obesity in the process of losing weight |
| title_short | Self-talk as a mediator in the relationship between perfectionism and body image: a study of Polish women with overweight and obesity in the process of losing weight |
| title_sort | self talk as a mediator in the relationship between perfectionism and body image a study of polish women with overweight and obesity in the process of losing weight |
| topic | body image self-talk perfectionism women |
| url | https://cipp.ug.edu.pl/Self-talk-as-a-mediator-in-the-relationship-between-perfectionism-and-body-image,176936,0,2.html |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT małgorzatampuchalskawasyl selftalkasamediatorintherelationshipbetweenperfectionismandbodyimageastudyofpolishwomenwithoverweightandobesityintheprocessoflosingweight AT sylwiakamionowska selftalkasamediatorintherelationshipbetweenperfectionismandbodyimageastudyofpolishwomenwithoverweightandobesityintheprocessoflosingweight |