Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, 6525 XZ Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Donders Institute, Radboudumc, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Nutrients. 2021 May 14;13(5):1662. doi: 10.3390/nu13051662.
Emotional eating (EE), the propensity to eat in response to emotions, is thought to have its origins in the early parent-infant relationship. This study tested the hypothesis that infant attachment insecurity results in EE in adolescence through the increased use of the emotion regulation strategy suppression of emotions and subsequent alexithymia. At the age of 15 months, parent-infant attachment security ( = 129) was observed with two abbreviated attachment measures: the shortened strange situation procedure (SSSP), and the shortened attachment Q-set (S-AQS). At the age of 12 years, children completed self-report questionnaires to assess the suppression of emotions, alexithymia, and EE. At the age of 16 years, EE was measured again. The mediation models indicated that lower parent-infant attachment security predicted increased use of suppression of emotions, which was related to increased alexithymia, and in turn more EE at the age of 12 years. These results were similar and significant for both attachment measures, and also (marginal) significant with EE at the age of 16 years as an outcome. Lastly, when parental caregiving quality was included, the models with the SSSP as predictor remained significant, but the models with the S-AQS became insignificant. These results indicated that to a certain extent, infant attachment security could predict adolescent EE above and beyond parental caregiving quality.
情绪性进食（EE），即受情绪影响而进食的倾向，被认为起源于早期的母婴关系。本研究通过检验以下假设来验证该理论：婴儿依恋不安全感会导致青少年时期更多地使用情绪调节策略——情绪抑制，进而导致述情障碍，从而导致情绪性进食。在 15 个月大时，通过两项简化的依恋测量方法观察母婴依恋安全性：简化陌生情境程序（SSSP）和简化依恋 Q 分类（S-AQS）。在 12 岁时，儿童完成自我报告问卷，以评估情绪抑制、述情障碍和 EE。在 16 岁时再次测量 EE。中介模型表明，母婴依恋安全性较低预示着情绪抑制的使用增加，而情绪抑制与述情障碍有关，进而导致 12 岁时的 EE 增加。这些结果与两种依恋测量方法均相似且显著，与 16 岁时的 EE 结果也具有边缘显著的相关性。最后，当纳入父母教养质量时，以 SSSP 为预测因子的模型仍然显著，但以 S-AQS 为预测因子的模型变得不显著。这些结果表明，在一定程度上，婴儿依恋安全性可以预测青少年时期的 EE，而这种预测作用超出了父母教养质量的影响。
