The effect of the attachment styles on self conception, eating attitude and behaviour of the female university students who do not live with their families

The general attachment styles of the people are heavily influenced by surroundings in which they are born and raised. The concept of attachment is highly affected by both social and economic status of the family and the parental attitudes. The goal of this study is to analyze the effects of the attachment styles on self conception, eating attitude and behavioral properties of the female university students who do not live with their families. It has been hypothesized that living apart from the family or living with the family during the collage period, has direct effect on students' attachment and eating habits. In order to fulfill the subjected purpose; The Relationship Scales Questionnaire, Eating Attitudes Test and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were administered to 308 volunteer female students who were chosen with convenience sampling method and who do not live with their families in İstanbul. The survey results have been evaluated by SPSS 23 Programme. Results showed that the condition of living with the family has a direct effect on the attachment styles, self-conception and eating habits of female university students. One of the results showed that female students who were not living with their families had more fearful attachment style compared to others. Another finding displayed that when the self-esteem increased, the unhealthy eating attitudes decreased. Also, it was found that the attachment styles had an influence on decreasing the frequency of eating disorders. As a conclusion; as self-esteem increased; secure attachment, preoccupied attachment and dismissive attachment styles decreased and fearful attachment style increased. The limitations of this study have been determined as the limited amounts of studies found in literature about this topic for discussion and the limited size of the sampling group in the research.