When mindfulness backfires : self-criticism and self-kindness moderate the mindful awareness-sexual shame link among sexual and gender minority women
department or school: Education, Faculty of
department or school: Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Fender, Alayna
issued: 2025-10-16T00:31:27Z
issued: 2025
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Sexual shame is a salient experience for sexual and gender minority (SGM) women. While mindfulness is known as having protective effects against shame, little is known about why mindfulness sometimes has adverse impacts. As individual differences are known to influence outcomes related to mindfulness, the purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that self-critical or self-compassionate appraisals of internal experiences will influence whether mindfulness is helpful or harmful for sexual shame among SGM women; such that self-criticism will weaken the protective association between mindfulness and sexual shame while self-kindness will strengthen the association. Participants (N = 384) were SGM women (75.8% cisgender; 68.2% white) recruited through Prolific (an online tool designed for research participant selection) who completed a web-based survey with measures assessing trait mindful awareness, self-kindness, self-criticism, and sexual shame. The self-kindness and the self-criticism moderation models supported our hypotheses. Specifically, among SGM women low in self-kindness or high in self-criticism, greater mindful awareness was associated with higher sexual shame, whereas the reverse was true for those high in self-kindness or low in self-criticism. These findings challenge universal mindfulness recommendations, as trait self-kindness and self-criticism appear to influence whether mindful awareness links with increased or decreased sexual shame. Results highlight the importance of assessing for self-criticism and self-kindness before mindfulness-based interventions are indicated for SGM women experiencing sexual shame.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/92633
note: WHEN MINDFULNESS BACKFIRES: SELF-CRITICISM AND SELF-KINDNESS MODERATE THE MINDFUL AWARENESSâSEXUAL SHAME LINK AMONG SEXUAL AND GENDER MINORITY WOMEN by Alayna Fender B.A., The University of Winnipeg, 2015 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Counselling Psychology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) October 2025 © Alayna Fender, 2025 iiThe following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: When mindfulness backfires: Self-criticism and self-kindness moderate the mindful awarenessâsexual shame link among sexual & gender minority women submitted by Alayna Fender in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology Examining Committee: Dr Daniel Cox, Professor, Counselling Psychology, UBC Supervisor Dr Chan Jeong Park, Assistant Professor, Counselling Psychology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr Nicole Johnson, Associate Professor, Counselling Psychology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member iiiAbstract Sexual shame is a salient experience for sexual and gender minority (SGM) women. While mindfulness is known as having protective effects against shame, little is known about why mindfulness sometimes has adverse impacts. As individual differences are known to influence outcomes related to mindfulness, the purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that self-critical or self-compassionate appraisals of internal experiences will influence whether mindfulness is helpful or harmful for sexual shame among SGM women; such that self-criticism will weaken the protective association between mindfulness and sexual shame while self-kindness will strengthen the association. Participants (N = 384) were SGM women (75.8% cisgender; 68.2% white) recruited through Prolific (an online tool designed for res…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2025-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0450440
language: eng
degree discipline: Counselling Psychology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Cox, Daniel W.
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/92633