Examining the relationship between eating attitude, social problem solving and parental bonding in adolescents

Research on eating disorders and abnormal eating attitudes suggests that these attitudes and disorders are more common in adolescence. For etiology of these disorders interaction of several factors is mentioned. The literature of our country does not include studies about eating attitudes, social problem solving and parental bonding of adolescents. For this reason, in this study adolescents' eating attitudes, problem solving skills and perceived parental bonding styles were examined. Additionally, the potential mediator role of social problem solving on the relationship between parental bonding and eating attitudes was investigated. The sample of the study comprised 739 students (412 girls, 327 boys) selected at random. They were recruited via high schools in Aydın and the students were from 9th, 10th and 11th grade. Students were instructed to complete Eating Attitudes Test (EAT), Revised Social Problem Solving Inventory (Tr-SPSI-R) and Parental Bonding Instrument. It has been found that 21.2% of the adolescents had points above the cut-point (30) on the eating attitude test. Percieved overprotection and eating attiudes are negatively correlated among girls. For boys, while percieved care/control is positively correleted with eating attitudes, overprotection is negatively correlated with eating attitude. When adolescents with abnormal eating attitudes are compared with adolescents with normal eating attitudes, it was concluded that problem solving skills of adolescents with abnormal eating attitudes are less than adolescents with normal eating attitudes. In addition to this, it was concluded that they had negative orientations to problems and they had avodiance and impulsivity styles for problem solving compared with adolescents with normal eating attitudes. Finally, social problem solving was found to mediate the relationship between parental bonding and eating attitudes and also it had an important effect on eating attitudes of adolescents.