A Study On The Relationship Between Adult Attachment,body Image And Abnormal Eating Behavior In Young Adults

Objective.Adult attachment refers to a sustained and long-term emotional connection between an individual and his current peers,which is a stable cognitive pattern of self and others.Body image refers to an individual’s subjective,comprehensive and evaluative concept of his own body characteristics.Abnormal eating behavior refers to the subclinical state of an eating disorder,which usually includes binge eating and dieting.Studies have found that the higher the degree of attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance in the two dimensions of adult attachment,the more negative the individual’s evaluation of physical appearance is,and the more likely it is to have abnormal eating behaviors such as dieting and binge eating.Our findings suggest that attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance may influence abnormal eating behavior through body image.Therefore,this paper mainly explores the correlation between adult attachment,body image and abnormal eating behavior,and evaluates whether body image plays a mediating role between adult attachment and abnormal eating behavior,as well as the predictive role of attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance on body image and abnormal eating behavior.Methods.In study 1,a pair of 599 undergraduate and graduate students were measured by the Adult Attachment Scale,the Multidimensional Body Self Relationship Questionnaire and the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire(DEBQ).Pearson correlation analysis,independent sample T test,the Bootstrap mediation analysis was used to analyze the data,and to explore the relationship between adult attachment including attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance,body image including appearance evaluation,body satisfaction,exterior orientation,overweight and abnormal eating behaviors including restricted eating,emotional eating,external eating.And then explore whether body image mediates adult attachment and abnormal eating behaviors.In Study 2,we contacted 310 participants who fullfilled the Adult Attachment Scale in 2018(T1),and the 59 of them were engaged in the Multidimensional Body Self Relationship Questionnaire and the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire(T2).Descriptive analysis and regression analysis was used to analyze these data and explores whether adult attachment can predict body image and abnormal eating behavior two years later.Results.In study 1,the correlation-analysis results showed that the scores of attachment anxiety were significantly negatively correlated with the scores of appearance evaluation(r=-275,p <0.001),body satisfaction(r=-260,p <0.001),and positively correlated with the scores of appearance orientation(r=.139,p <0.01)and overweight(r=.295,p <0.001).The scores of attachment avoidance were positively correlated with the scores of appearance evaluation(r=.223,p<0.001),body satisfaction(r=.168,p <0.001)and appearance orientation(r=.108,p<0.01),and negatively correlated with the scores of overweight(r=-.173,p <0.001).The total score of DEBQ was negatively correlated with the body satisfaction dimension(r=-.153,p<0.001),and positively correlated with the appearance orientation dimension(r=.310,p<0.001)and the overweight dimension(r=.505,p<0.001).There was a significant positive correlation between the total score and the attachment anxiety score(r=.306,p<0.001),and a significant negative correlation between the total score and the attachment avoidance score(r=-.130,p<0.05).The mediating test results showed that the overweight dimension played a mediating role in the attachment anxiety dimension on the abnormal eating behavior.The external orientation dimension played a masked role in the effect of attachment avoidance dimension on abnormal eating behavior.The overweight dimension played a mediating role in the effect of attachment avoidance dimension on abnormal eating behavior.The regression-analysis results in study 2 showed that attachment anxiety of T1 could significantly predict body satisfaction(t=-2.27,p<0.05),overweight(t=2.56,p<0.05),emotional eating(t=2.71,p<0.01)and external eating(t=2.64,p<0.05)of T2.Conclusion.Adult attachment,body image and abnormal eating behavior were correlated,and the overweight dimension of body image played a mediating role in the effect of attachment anxiety,attachment avoidance on abnormal eating behavior.Attachment anxiety can predict body part satisfaction,overweight dimension,emotional eating and external eating two years later.