Binge eating, social media disorder and attachment in adolescence: Gender differences in the mediating role of alexithymia

IF 1.3 4区心理学 Q3 PSYCHOLOGY, APPLIED

European Review of Applied Psychology-Revue Europeenne De Psychologie Appliquee Pub Date : 2024-04-11 DOI:10.1016/j.erap.2023.100936

Cecilia Serena Pace, Stefania Muzi, Guyonne Rogier

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Introduction

There is a need for research investigating factors accounting for binge eating (BE) and social media disorder (SMD) in adolescence.

Objective

Despite studies suggesting the role of both attachment and alexithymia in these disorders, there has been no investigation into the mediating role of alexithymia in the pathways linking the different types of attachment relationships to both BE and SMD.

Methods

A total of 423 Italian adolescents (32.2% males, M_age = 16.88) completed self-report questionnaires investigating attachment, alexithymia, binge eating, and social media disorder levels. Hypotheses were tested with Structural Equation Modelling including multigroup analyses.

Results

Almost all the variables showed relationships with each other. BE was explained by attachment to the mother and peers in both genders, but the mediating effect of alexithymia was significant only among girls. SMD was explained only by attachment to peers among boys but by attachment to the parents among girls. Moreover, among girls, the role of attachment to the father in SMD was fully mediated by alexithymia levels.

Conclusions

Attachment and alexithymia are two explaining variables associated with BE and SMD in adolescence. However, differentiating between attachment relationships appears crucial to reaching a nuanced understanding of the dynamics underlying both BE and SMD.

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青少年时期的暴饮暴食、社交媒体障碍和依恋：亚历山大症中介作用的性别差异

尽管有研究表明依恋和情感障碍在这些障碍中都起着作用，但还没有研究表明情感障碍在不同类型的依恋关系与暴食症和社交媒体障碍之间的联系中起着中介作用。方法共有 423 名意大利青少年（32.2% 为男性，Mage = 16.88）填写了自我报告问卷，调查依恋、情感障碍、暴饮暴食和社交媒体障碍水平。结果几乎所有变量之间都有关系。在男女两性中，对母亲和同伴的依恋都能解释暴饮暴食的原因，但情感障碍的中介效应仅在女孩中显著。男孩对同伴的依恋只能解释 SMD，而女孩对父母的依恋则能解释 SMD。此外，在女孩中，对父亲的依恋在 SMD 中的作用完全受情感缺失水平的调节。然而，区分依恋关系似乎对深入理解青少年依恋和 SMD 的内在动力至关重要。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

European Review of Applied Psychology-Revue Europeenne De Psychologie Appliquee PSYCHOLOGY, APPLIED-

CiteScore

2.20

自引率

20.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The aim of the Revue européenne de Psychologie appliquée / European Review of Applied Psychology is to promote high-quality applications of psychology to all areas of specialization, and to foster exchange among researchers and professionals. Its policy is to attract a wide range of contributions, including empirical research, overviews of target issues, case studies, descriptions of instruments for research and diagnosis, and theoretical work related to applied psychology. In all cases, authors will refer to published and verificable facts, whether established in the study being reported or in earlier publications.