HPRHealth Psychology ResearchTBA2420-8124Health Psychology Research10.4081/hpr.2020.9172GeneralBody image and the relation to mindfulness and self-compassion in  physical education students: a cross-cultural studyhttps://healthpr.org/journal/HPR/8/3/10.4081/hpr.2020.9172JansenPetra,ZayedKashef,KittsteinerJürgen2020832020-12-30The present study investigated the body images of Omani and German physical education students. 199 students completed a body image test, a dispositional mindfulness and a self-compas sion measurement, as well as a short physical activity question naire. Overall, our results demonstrate that females showed a higher body distortion than males and students in Germany dis played a higher body distortion effect. Concerning mindfulness and self-compassion, students from Oman showed higher values than German students in self-compassion, but not in the disposi tional mindfulness measurement. However, self-compassion and mindfulness were not related to the body distortion effect. This is the first study that provides unique data of self-compassion and mindfulness in an Arabic sample, and shows that self-compassion is higher in Omani students. Self-kindness; students; mindfulness; BMI; body image, body dissatisfaction

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