Is there a relationship between self-compassion and food addiction in women with dysfunctional eating behaviors?

ABSTRACT Objective: To verify the relationship between self-compassion and food addiction in women with disordered eating behavior. Methods: Women from a support group completed the binge eating scale, cognitive restraint, self-compassion, modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 (YFAS 2.0), and Hay's questionnaire for compensatory practices. The prevalence of “food addiction” and symptoms, according to YFAS, was identified. To be included, participants should achieve binge eating scores, and for analysis, they were divided according to the presence of compensatory practices. The group was analyzed using Pearson's correlation tests between variables of interest, and the bulimic and compulsive groups were compared with Student's t-test (p < 0.05; JASP software). Results: 190 women participated in the study. According to YFAS, 95.3% (n = 181) had food addiction, and the scale scores showed a negative correlation with self-compassion and binge eating (p = 0.014 for both). The levels of self-compassion showed a negative correlation with questions #3, #5, #6, #8 and #9 of YFAS (p < 0.05). Conclusions: This study brings data to discuss the need to analyze how self-judgment linked to the suffering of the experience of those who show upset eating behavior, affects the scale filling, bringing identification with the notion of addiction since it is culturally accepted.

摘要 研究目的：探讨进食行为异常女性的自我同情与食物成瘾之间的关联。研究方法：本研究招募某支持团体中的女性受试者，令其完成暴食量表、认知节制量表、自我同情量表、改良版耶鲁食物成瘾量表2.0（modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0, YFAS 2.0）以及Hay氏补偿行为问卷。基于YFAS 2.0量表，本研究明确了食物成瘾的患病率及其相关症状表现。本研究的纳入标准要求受试者需达到特定的暴食量表得分；后续分析则依据受试者是否存在补偿行为进行分组。针对目标变量，本研究采用皮尔逊相关分析进行组间关联检验，并通过学生t检验比较贪食组与强迫进食组的组间差异（检验水准设定为p<0.05，所有分析均通过JASP软件完成）。研究结果：本研究共纳入190名女性受试者。经YFAS 2.0量表评估，95.3%（n=181）的受试者存在食物成瘾情况；该量表得分与自我同情水平及暴食症状均呈显著负相关（两组p值均为0.014）。自我同情水平与YFAS 2.0量表第3、5、6、8、9题的得分均呈显著负相关（p<0.05）。研究结论：本研究所得数据可用于探讨：进食行为异常者因自身痛苦体验而产生的自我评判，如何影响其量表填写结果，并结合文化层面的普遍认知，使得受试者更容易对食物成瘾这一概念产生认同。