The Role of Emotion Regulation and Social Comparison in the Relationship Between Insecure Attachment and Disordered Eating Pathology in Women: A Mediated Approach

Abstract

Abstract Eating disorders have a significant and underestimated impact on Australian society. Stemming from society’s active promotion of a youthful, slim, and toned body ideal, dissatisfaction with body weight and shape is so prevalent within the community that feeling negatively about one’s appearance has been termed a normative discontent. With the majority of women unable to achieve the body ideal without resorting to unhealthy measures, disrupted eating behaviours are commonplace. Individuals with eating disorders can experience considerable challenges in interpersonal relationships, emotional processes and self-evaluation. However, despite considerable individual associations between insecure attachment, emotion regulation, social comparison, and disordered eating pathology, few studies exist that have examined possible associations between these variables. The aim of the present study was to explore the role of emotion regulation and social comparison in the relationship between insecure attachment and disordered eating pathology in women. A multi-method approach was employed to conduct two studies. The first study was qualitative and sought to explore the lived experience of community based women, women with diagnosed eating disorders, and professionals working within the eating disorders field in relation to the existence of relationships between anxious and avoidant attachment, emotion regulation, social comparison, and disordered eating pathology. The proposed relationships between these variables were supported across all three groups. A total of 236 women participated in the second study which employed structural equation modelling to test a mediational model that examined the relative contributions of anxious and avoidant attachment, emotion regulation, and social comparison to the prediction of disordered eating pathology. Results supported the presence of the proposed mediational relationships for younger women, however indicated that these relationships may differ for older women. The limitations of this study as well as the implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed