A daily diary study of women’s compassionate self-responding in physical activity and physical activity behaviour

Women consistently report lower levels physical activity engagement compared to men. Experiences of distress within physical activity may be one reason for this gender disparity. Self-compassion, a positive way of coping with distress, may be one method for women to combat experiences of distress in physical activity. Indeed, self-compassion has been linked to greater physical activity behaviour, but most studies have explored these relationships cross-sectionally and only between-persons. Further, limited research has examined motivational perspectives of self-compassion, in favour of emotion regulation perspectives, which precludes understandings of how compassionate self-responding in physical activity (i.e., self-compassion assessed as a motivational strategy) may be related to women’s physical activity behavior. As such, the current study examined the unique contribution of day-to-day within-person variability in compassionate self-responding in physical activity and physical activity behaviour. Using a 15-day daily diary study design, participants (N = 163 women) completed measures of compassionate self-responding in physical activity and physical activity behaviour once per day. Results suggested that on days when women reported higher than usual compassionate self-responding in physical activity, there was no significant association with daily or subsequent physical activity behaviour. Nevertheless, there was significant variation in the slopes for compassionate self-responding in physical activity in relation to physical activity behaviour, indicating there was an individual-level pattern in the compassionate self-responding in physical activity and physical activity behaviour association. Taken together, findings indicate that women’s compassionate self-responding in physical activity may have distinct trait- and state-like properties that may vary across situations and individuals.