Association between self-compassion and binge eating disorder severity in medical students

Abstract

Background: Binge eating disorder is the most prevalent eating disorder in the general population, and medical students may be particularly vulnerable to its development. Previous studies have investigated whether self-compassion may influence binge eating disorder. However, no studies have examined the relationship between self-compassion and binge eating disorder in medical students. Objective: To investigate the association between self-compassion and binge eating disorder in medical students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted including medical students aged 18 years or older. Binge eating disorder symptoms were assessed using the Binge Eating Scale, in which scores above 18 indicate a positive screening and higher scores indicate greater symptom severity. Self-compassion was evaluated using the Self-Compassion Scale, composed of 26 items divided into six dimensions, with the overall score calculated as the mean of the scores of each dimension. Higher scores indicate greater levels of self-compassion. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 26® and included Pearson correlation, internal consistency analysis, chi-square test and linear regression, adopting a significance level of five percent. Results: A total of 118 participants were included, of whom 59.3% were female. Age ranged from 19 to 43 years (24.2 ± 4 years). The prevalence of positive screening for binge eating disorder was 13.6 percent and was significantly higher in women (odds ratio = 4.33; p < 0.001). Both the Binge Eating Scale and the Self-Compassion Scale demonstrated high internal consistency (alpha = 0.912 and 0.85, respectively). Higher levels of self-compassion were significantly associated with lower binge eating symptom severity (R = −0.388; R² = 0.15; p < 0.001). All dimensions of self-compassion correlated significantly with binge eating severity, particularly over-identification (R = 0.415; p < 0.001), which reflects excessive engagement with negative emotions. Conclusion: Higher self-compassion was associated with lower severity of binge eating disorder in medical students. Interventions aimed at increasing self-compassion may represent a promising strategy to reduce binge eating symptoms in this population.