Event

Thesis Defense Presentation: Ms. Aida Faber

Ms. Aida FABER, a doctoral student at McGill University in the area of Marketing will be presenting her thesis entitled:

MAPPING THE ROLE OF ATTACHMENT IN EATING BEHAVIORS

 

May 26, 2015

10:15 AM

Bronfman Building Room 245

 

All are cordially invited to attend the presentation.

 

Student Committee Chair:  Professor Laurette Dubé

 

ABSTRACT -    Food overconsumption has been recognized as a core cause for the rise in obesity rates over the past 40 years. It is widely established that obesity is associated with negative health and psychological consequences throughout the life course. Attachment relationships are bonds we forge with significant others who act as a safe haven (a place where we can seek comfort) in times of distress. These bonds are first form in infancy towards caregivers and continue to evolve to include a variety of attachment figures throughout the life course, e.g., peers in childhood and adolescence, and close and romantic others in adulthood.

     The contribution of attachment to stress, disease, and health outcomes has been established by previous literatures. However, its contribution to eating, specifically with regard to everyday food consumption, still requires a much more careful examination and integration than what has been previously done. This dissertation proposes to close this gap by first conducting a meta-analysis of the attachment-eating link across literatures (Essay 1), and second by focusing on early forged caregiver relationships and vulnerable populations, i.e., children, to further investigate the role of attachment in everyday eating (Essay 2 and 3).

     Essay 1 maps the strength and depth of the attachment and eating relationship using meta-analysis. Data from 71 publications with a total of 245 effect sizes from 25,350 participants was collected and showed positive small to medium size associations between insecure, anxious, avoidant, and fearful attachment bonds and maladaptive eating behaviors. Conversely, a negative medium-small association was found between secure attachment bonds and maladaptive eating behaviors. Due to lack of data, no relationship could be empirically established between attachment and healthy eating. This is the first study to quantify the attachment-eating relationship using meta-analysis and assess potential relationship moderators, including attachment figures, gender, and sample type (clinical versus non-clinical). The present essay is also one of the first to document the attachment-eating relationship with regard to a multitude of eating behaviors that are not restricted to clinical maladaptive eating, e.g., bulimia or binge eating. Essay 1 demonstrates the existence of an attachment-maladaptive eating relationship while simultaneously pinpointing to the lack of available evidence regarding the role of attachment in everyday food consumption.

     Focusing on early forged relationships, Essay 2 aims to remediate this gap by investigating whether insecure parental attachment in children and in adults predicts daily high caloric food consumption. Results from survey data with 213 children (Study 1) and 216 adults (Study 2) showed that actual and recalled attachment insecurity positively predicted high caloric food consumption even after important confounding variables such as parental high caloric food intake, child age or adult level of education were partialed out. Essay 2 is the first study to validate the link between attachment and everyday food consumption in children and extending it to adults, where previous findings showed conflicting evidence.

     Using data from 616 children enrolled in a broader Brain-to-Society Study, Essay 3 examines the role of peer attachment in predicting both healthy (fruit and vegetable) and unhealthy food consumption and explores the moderating effects of gender. Findings showed that peer attachment security predicted lower consumption frequency of unhealthy food items, particularly for girls. Peer attachment insecurity was linked with higher unhealthy food consumption for both boys and girls. In boys, peer attachment anxiety unexpectedly predicted higher vegetable consumption while peer attachment avoidance predicted lower vegetable consumption. Essay 3 further extends the evidence linking attachment and everyday food consumption in children by looking at both healthy and unhealthy food consumption and incorporating specific attachment styles (vs. overall insecurity in Essay 2). This essay is the first to explore the role of gender as a potentially important moderating factor.

     Together, this series of three essays shows that attachment is linked to maladaptive eating and everyday food consumption in children, a particularly vulnerable population. By incorporating and assessing the role of attachment in everyday food consumption, the present

dissertation provides an important opportunity to build new consumer behavior research and bring this line of work to marketing. It furthermore enables marketers and health practitioners alike to elaborate better targeted healthy-eating intervention programs and use marketing tools more effectively in view of promoting healthy eating.             

Keywords: attachment, eating, obesity, children, adults, maladaptive, secure, insecure

 

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