University of Twente Student Theses
Beyond Pressure: How Compassion Can Impact Well-Being and Attitudes Towards Activities of Daily Living
Tottmann, Marla F. (2025) Beyond Pressure: How Compassion Can Impact Well-Being and Attitudes Towards Activities of Daily Living.
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| Abstract: | Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), such as cleaning or cooking, are the invisible responsibilities that keep life going and enable individuals to participate in daily and social life. These tasks are often accompanied by societal pressure linking their completion to personal worth. In Western societies, social media trends like the Clean Girl aesthetic reinforce these standards by promoting idealized, effortless routines, especially among young women. In contrast, compassion-based approaches, such as Davis´s approach Care Tasks are Morally Neutral, aim to reduce shame around ADLs by reframing them without moral value. This study examined whether exposure to Davis’s compassion-based approach Care Tasks are Morally Neutral would lower perceived stress (PSS), improve positive mental health (PMH), and foster a more positive attitude towards ADLs among young adults. An exploratory analysis investigated whether higher Clean Girl content consumption was correlated with greater perceived stress in female participants. A randomized, controlled design was conducted (N = 59; aged 17-26), with participants recruited via a university platform (SONA), social media, and word-of-mouth. The experimental group (N = 30) received a short, video-based intervention over three days and the control group (N = 29) received no intervention. PSS, PMH and ADL attitudes were assessed using standardized and custom measures. Contrary to expectations, no significant differences were found between groups over time. No significant correlation was detected between Clean Girl trend consumption and perceived stress scores. There are several possible explanations for these findings, including the brief duration of the intervention, the small sample size, or the lack of interaction or reflection to ensure the participant´s attention. Despite the non-significant results, this study contributes to the emerging research on compassion-based approaches to mental well-being and highlights the need for longer, more interactive interventions with larger, more diverse samples to explore their longitudinal effects on well-being. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology BSc (56604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/106762 |
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