The mediating role of mentalizing between attachment and eating disorders

The objective of the study was to investigate whether mindfulness mediated the relationship between attachment and eating disorders in a sample of 323 female university students and 38 anorexic inpatients using structural equation modeling. All insecure attachment subscales were positively related to eating disorder symptoms and negatively to mindfulness. Furthermore, mindfulness scores were negatively associated with eating disorder symptoms. Mediation analyses showed that the relationship between all the insecure attachment subscales and eating disorders was partially mediated by the mindfulness effects. These results are in line with Bateman and Fonagy's (2004a, 2004b) theory that implies a mediating role of mindfulness used as a proxy for mentalizing between attachment and psychopathology. Further research is needed, however, to replicate these findings.