Perceived adolescent insecure attachment with mothers and fathers: links with food addiction, eating disorders, and weight status

Helena Pipová; Martin Dolejš; Jaroslava Suchá; Alexander T. Vazsonyi

doi:10.1080/02673843.2026.2660772

Perceived adolescent insecure attachment with mothers and fathers: links with food addiction, eating disorders, and weight status

Helena Pipová
, Martin Dolejš
, Jaroslava Suchá
, Alexander T. Vazsonyi

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The aim of this study was to test relationships between adolescent insecure attachment (anxious and avoidant) with mothers and fathers and three outcomes: food addiction, eating disorders, and weight status, in a large multi-regional sample of Czech adolescents. Anonymous, self-reported data were collected from 3,677 adolescents (1,688 boys, 45.9% and 1,989 girls, 54.1%). Both anxious and avoidant attachment with mothers were positively associated with food addiction (p <.001) and eating-disorder risk (p <.001). Importantly, avoidant attachment with fathers uniquely and additively explained variance in both food addiction (p <.001) and eating-disorder risk (p =.003), after controlling for maternal attachment. Weight status was unrelated to attachment and was predicted by sex and parental education only. Study findings highlight the salience of insecure attachment with both mothers and fathers for food addiction and eating disorders among adolescents and identify the parental relationship as a key potential preventative strategy.

Original language	English
Article number	2660772
Journal	International Journal of Adolescence and Youth
Volume	31
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2026.2660772
State	Published - 2026

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Funding

This article has been produced with the support of the project ReDiKid: Resilient Kid in Digital World, reg. no. CZ.02.01.01/00/23_025/0008686 co-funded by the EU. And the project from the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports (IGA_FF_2022_048).

Funders	Funder number
European Commission
Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy	IGA_FF_2022_048

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

Czech population
Obesity
attachment
eating disorders
food addiction
overweight

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Health(social science)

Access to Document

10.1080/02673843.2026.2660772

Cite this

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title = "Perceived adolescent insecure attachment with mothers and fathers: links with food addiction, eating disorders, and weight status",

abstract = "The aim of this study was to test relationships between adolescent insecure attachment (anxious and avoidant) with mothers and fathers and three outcomes: food addiction, eating disorders, and weight status, in a large multi-regional sample of Czech adolescents. Anonymous, self-reported data were collected from 3,677 adolescents (1,688 boys, 45.9\% and 1,989 girls, 54.1\%). Both anxious and avoidant attachment with mothers were positively associated with food addiction (p <.001) and eating-disorder risk (p <.001). Importantly, avoidant attachment with fathers uniquely and additively explained variance in both food addiction (p <.001) and eating-disorder risk (p =.003), after controlling for maternal attachment. Weight status was unrelated to attachment and was predicted by sex and parental education only. Study findings highlight the salience of insecure attachment with both mothers and fathers for food addiction and eating disorders among adolescents and identify the parental relationship as a key potential preventative strategy.",

keywords = "Czech population, Obesity, attachment, eating disorders, food addiction, overweight",

author = "Helena Pipov{\'a} and Martin Dolej{\v s} and Jaroslava Such{\'a} and Vazsonyi, \{Alexander T.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor \& Francis Group.",

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doi = "10.1080/02673843.2026.2660772",

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T2 - links with food addiction, eating disorders, and weight status

AU - Pipová, Helena

AU - Dolejš, Martin

AU - Suchá, Jaroslava

AU - Vazsonyi, Alexander T.

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N2 - The aim of this study was to test relationships between adolescent insecure attachment (anxious and avoidant) with mothers and fathers and three outcomes: food addiction, eating disorders, and weight status, in a large multi-regional sample of Czech adolescents. Anonymous, self-reported data were collected from 3,677 adolescents (1,688 boys, 45.9% and 1,989 girls, 54.1%). Both anxious and avoidant attachment with mothers were positively associated with food addiction (p <.001) and eating-disorder risk (p <.001). Importantly, avoidant attachment with fathers uniquely and additively explained variance in both food addiction (p <.001) and eating-disorder risk (p =.003), after controlling for maternal attachment. Weight status was unrelated to attachment and was predicted by sex and parental education only. Study findings highlight the salience of insecure attachment with both mothers and fathers for food addiction and eating disorders among adolescents and identify the parental relationship as a key potential preventative strategy.

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KW - Czech population

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KW - eating disorders

KW - food addiction

KW - overweight

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Perceived adolescent insecure attachment with mothers and fathers: links with food addiction, eating disorders, and weight status

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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Cite this