Attachment and emotional eating : a systematic review of the relationship between attachment, emotional eating, mediators and moderators in the general population

Abstract

This systematic review explores the relationship between attachment styles and emotional eating in the general population, spanning research from 1990 to 2024. Drawing on attachment theory, emotional eating is examined as a maladaptive coping mechanism often employed by insecurely attached individuals to manage negative emotions. The review synthesizes quantitative and qualitative studies, highlighting key mediators such as emotion dysregulation, body dissatisfaction, and perceived hunger, as well as moderators like stress, rejection sensitivity, and gender. Findings consistently show that attachment anxiety predicts higher levels of emotional overeating, while attachment avoidance exhibits more context-dependent effects, sometimes linked to emotional suppression. Secure attachment appears protective against emotional eating, particularly through healthier emotion regulation strategies. Notably, cultural and sociocultural factors influencing childhood emotional eating remain underexplored, especially in non-Western populations. This review emphasizes the need for future research on cultural variations and the developmental trajectory of emotional eating in childhood, contributing to interventions aimed at reducing obesity and emotional eating through attachment based frameworks