Date
7-2021
Department
School of Behavioral Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)
Chair
Mary Ann Hollingsworth
Keywords
self-compassion, pageantry, therapeutic writing, body-image, journaling
Recommended Citation
Powers, Amanda Dolce, "The Effects of Self-Compassion on Body Image in Pageant Contestants" (2021). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 3105.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/3105
Abstract
Self-compassion has been found to provide individuals with important tools for facing personal adversity and struggles. These strengths are increasingly beneficial to individuals faced with both internal and external criticism. Studies exploring these benefits for those in highly public and critiqued fields are limited. Pageantry has the ability to amplify such criticism, but research for the population is limited. A group of twenty female previous and current pageant contestants were recruited to explore the effects of self-compassion. This study will explore, in detail, the effects of self-compassion on personality and body image in this population. This study will utilize creative therapeutic interventions, proven to increase self-compassion, to determine if an increase provides improvement in those areas. Further research may explore how this information can generalized to those in other highly critiqued, public fields such as politics, entertainment, and athletics.
