Research paper
Thøgersen-Ntoumani C, Dodos LA, Stenling A, Ntoumanis N. Does self-compassion help to deal with dietary lapses among overweight and obese adults who pursue weight-loss goals? British Journal of Health Psychology. 2021 Sep;26(3):767-788. doi:10.1111/bjhp.12499. Epub 2020 Dec 24. PMID: 33368932. PMCID: PMC8451927.
Why we cite it
One of the first studies to examine the within-person effects of self-compassion on dietary lapse responses in real time, using EMA with overweight/obese adults actively trying to lose weight. The key novel finding is that guilt mediates the relationship between self-compassion and adaptive lapse outcomes — self-compassion reduces guilt, which in turn improves dieting intentions, self-efficacy, and emotional responses. Also notable for showing that self-compassion did not directly predict weight loss, suggesting it operates through psychological pathways (motivation, emotion) rather than directly affecting weight. Referenced by 1 k-file.