EFFECT OF COMPASSION MEDITATION AND AMOUNT OF EXERCISE ON BODY IMAGE IN COLLEGE FRESHMEN Public

Abstract

Abstract

EFFECT OF COMPASSION MEDITATION AND AMOUNT OF EXERCISE ON
BODY IMAGE IN COLLEGE FRESHMEN

By Erica Lipizzi

To assess the effect of meditation and amount of exercise on body image, 61 freshmen college students were randomized to six weeks of training in compassion meditation or to a health discussion group. At the beginning and end of the intervention, 33 women and
28 men completed the Stanford Usual Activity Questionnaire and the Cash Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire. High practice time and low practice time meditators (defined by median split) were compared to each other and to controls. The sample was divided into two exercise groups: (1) amount of exercise decreased over the course of the semester; (2) exercise increased or remained the same. There was a significant positive relationship between the students' amount of exercise at pretest and the minutes they spent meditating during the first three weeks of the intervention (r = .37, p = .036), and a positive trend in meditation practice time during the course of the intervention and self-reported exercise at posttest. Repeated measures analyses of covariance revealed that students who meditated more frequently throughout the course of the training were more health conscious at posttest, compared to control participants and those who meditated less frequently (p = .013), and that students whose exercise increased or stayed the same over the course of the intervention became more involved in activities to enhance or maintain their fitness (p = .029), more alert to personal symptoms of physical illness (p = .002), and more satisfied with their appearance (p = .004) compared to students whose exercise decreased. In addition, there were statistically significant higher-level interactions. High practice meditators who increased or had no change in amount of exercise felt more positive about their appearance (p = .001) and there was a trend toward increased satisfaction with areas of their body compared to high-practice meditators who decreased their amount of exercise. There was no difference in body image among low-practice meditators who either increased or maintained or decreased their exercise over the course of the intervention. These findings suggest that compassion meditation and amount of exercise may interact to affect body image in college students.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page

I. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................1

II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE....................................................................................5

III. METHODS....................................................................................................15

Participants.......................................................................................................15
Procedure.........................................................................................................15
Measures..........................................................................................................18
Analysis............................................................................................................22

IV. RESULTS......................................................................................................24

V. DISCUSSION..................................................................................................31

FIGURE 1..........................................................................................................35

TABLE 1...........................................................................................................36

TABLE 2...........................................................................................................37

TABLE 3...........................................................................................................38

TABLE 4...........................................................................................................39

TABLE 5...........................................................................................................40

REFERENCES.....................................................................................................41

About this Master's Thesis

Rights statement

• Permission granted by the author to include this thesis or dissertation in this repository. All rights reserved by the author. Please contact the author for information regarding the reproduction and use of this thesis or dissertation.

School	Rollins School of Public Health
Department	Behavioral Sciences and Health Education
Degree	MPH
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Health Sciences, Public Health
Mot-clé	body image meditation compassion college students exercise
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Thompson, Nancy J, Emory University
Committee Members	Raison, Charles L, Emory University
Partnering Agencies	Does not apply (no collaborating organization)

Dernière modification

Primary PDF

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions
	EFFECT OF COMPASSION MEDITATION AND AMOUNT OF EXERCISE ON BODY IMAGE IN COLLEGE FRESHMEN ()	2018-08-28 10:56:59 -0400	Press to Select an action Download

Supplemental Files

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions