The mediating role of emotional regulation in the relationship between attachment and children's eating behaviors

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the mediating role of emotional regulation in the relationship between attachment and children's eating behaviors. The present research method was the descriptive-correlation type of structural equation modeling. The statistical population was made up of children referred to nutrition clinics in Tabriz city in 1401. 240 people were selected as a sample using the available sampling method. The research tools included a children's eating behavior questionnaire (CEBQ) by Wardell et al. (2001), an emotion regulation checklist (ERC) by Shields and Cicetti (1998), and an inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) by Armsden and Greenberg (1989). Structural equation analysis was used to analyze the data. The results showed the optimal fit of the research model. The results showed a significant direct effect of attachment on instability and adaptive emotion regulation (P=0.001) and no significant direct effect on children's eating behaviors (P=0.08). Also, the direct effect of adaptive emotion regulation on children's eating behaviors was not significant (p=0.21), but the direct effect of instability on eating behaviors was significant (p=0.001). Attachment showed a significant indirect effect on children's eating behaviors with the mediation of instability (P<0.05), but adaptive emotion regulation did not show a significant mediating role in the relationship between attachment and children's eating behaviors (P<0.05). These results show that instability in emotion regulation significantly mediates the relationship between attachment and children's eating behaviors.