Self-compassion buffers the effects of perfectionistic self-presentation on social media on wellbeing

JOURNAL OF CONTEXTUAL BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE Volume 23, January 2022, Pages 53-58 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2021.11.006Get rights and content HIGHLIGHTS * • Higher levels of self-compassion

related to lower levels of maladaptive perfectionism. * • Higher levels of self-compassion related to higher levels of subjective wellbeing. * • Self-compassion mediates the relationship

between maladaptive perfectionism and wellbeing. * • Self-compassion may be a potential prevention of maladaptive perfectionism and intervention for people suffering from perfectionism. * •

Intervention for people suffering from perfectionism. ABSTRACT About 30% of undergraduate students are perfectionists. Striving for perfection is associated with psychological maladjustment.

The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between perfectionism measured by perfectionistic self-presentation on social media, self-compassion, psychological flexibility

and wellbeing. It was predicted that self-compassion and psychological flexibility have significant multiple mediating effects on the relationship between perfectionistic self-presentation

on social media and subjective wellbeing, with higher levels of perfectionistic self-presentation on social media related to lower levels of self-compassion and lower levels of psychological

flexibility related to lower levels of wellbeing. Psychological flexibility was not found as a significant mediator of perfectionistic self-presentation on social media and wellbeing.

However, self-compassion was found as a significant mediator of perfectionistic self-presentation on social media and wellbeing, indicating that self-compassion may buffer the effects

perfectionistic self-presentation on social media has on wellbeing. Therefore, cultivating self-compassion may be a useful process of change to target for the treatment and prevention of

perfectionistic self-presentation on social media. Implications for practice and research are discussed. SECTION SNIPPETS PARTICIPANTS The sample consisted of 129 social media users. The

sample size of approximately 100 participants was based on recommendations of previous research investigating the relationship between subjective wellbeing and perfectionistic

self-presentation on social media (Hellmann, 2016). Participants were recruited on a volunteer basis through an online psychology research participation system (SONA) and social media posts,

which referred to the survey link. Demographic information about the PRELIMINARY ANALYSES The means, standard deviations and Cronbach's alpha levels of the primary variables are

displayed in Table 2. All values for Cronbach's alpha were above 0.075 indicating that the scales are reliable. The skewness and kurtosis values for the PSPS, the SCS-SV, the AAQ II and

the WEMWBS scale were all within the acceptable range of −2 to +2 (Lomax, 2001). MULTIVARIATE REGRESSION ANALYSES No significant relationship between the primary variables and gender was

found (PSPS: _F_ (128) = 1.15, _p_ = .32; SCS-SV: _F_ (128) = 2.48, _p_ = .09; DISCUSSION The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship among perfectionism in the specific

context of perfectionistic self-presentation on social media, self-compassion, psychological flexibility, and subjective wellbeing. The present study examined whether self-compassion and

psychological flexibility have significant multiple mediating effects on the relationship between perfectionistic self-presentation on social media and subjective wellbeing. This

study's findings suggest that DECLARATION OF COMPETING INTEREST Given their role as an Associate Editor, McHugh L. had no involvement in the peer-review of this article and had no

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