Attachment styles of emerging adults and parents, BMI, encouragement to diet, and emerging adults emotional over-eating or emotional-undereating response
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Date
2023-05-04
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Authors
Koppelmann, Caleigh
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Publisher
East Carolina University
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of attachment on parents' and students' BMI, encouragement to diet on their emerging adult children and if this relationship impacts the emotional over-eating or under-eating response. Existing literature indicates that secure attachment styles foster a strong sense of individual self that can serve as protective factors against external stimuli. Insecure attachment styles (anxious and avoidant) require individuals to rely on external regulation strategies due to negative views of self. Not studied is how parents' attachment style impacts their BMI and conversations surrounding weight related topics such as encouragement to diet as well as the impact this conversation has on emotional over-eating or under-eating behaviors employed by their children past childhood into adolescence. To address this gap in the literature, the researcher used a path analysis of regressions to determine the interaction between secure attachment styles of the mother and father on their BMI and dieting behaviors individually, and the impact of this relationship on each parents' encouragement to diet. From here, the impact this relationship had on emerging adults when looking at the emotional over-eating or emotional-undereating outcomes.