Investigation of personality traits, anxiety levels and attachment styles of mothers of children with food refusal

In this study, the anxiety levels, attachment styles and personality traits of the mothers of children with refusal to eat in the pediatric outpatient clinic were examined. The mothers of the children who applied to the Pediatrics Clinic of two private hospitals in Kocaeli for complaints related to food refusal were included in the study. Data was collected from 100 participants by means of questionnaires, 50 of them were clinical and 50 of them were control group. Personal Information Form, Relationship Scales Questionnaire, Beck Anxiety Scale and SCID-II Personality Inventory were used as data collection tools. According to the results of the study, the anxiety, attachment styles and personality traits of the mothers of children who were diagnosed with food refusal in the clinical group differed significantly from the mothers' scores in the control groyp. Anxiety and insecure attachment styles were higher in mothers who were diagnosed with food refusal. In addition, higher scores of psychopathological personality traits were found to be significant in the mothers of children with food refusal. Relevant recommendations were made in line with the findings of the research.