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Associations of Youth and Adulthood Body-Mass Index and Waist-Hip Ratio with Attachment Styles and Dimensions

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Abstract

The current cross-sectional study examined whether body-mass index (BMI) and waist-hip ratio are associated with adult attachment. Participants were 1,570 men and women participating in Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study. BMI was measured in youth and in adulthood and waist-hip ratio in adulthood. A single measure of attachment style was conducted when participants were aged 24–39 years. In age and sex adjusted models, youth BMI (Beta = .066, p = .008), adulthood BMI (Beta = .069, p = .007) and waist-hip ratio (Beta = .082, p = .016) were associated with fearful attachment. The associations remained significant when education and relationship status were adjusted for. Age adjusted association between adulthood waist-hip ratio and preoccupied attachment was found in men (Beta = .132, p = .002). The association was not essentially changed by additionally adjusting for education and relationship status, and including fearful attachment in the model. Furthermore, associations for attachment dimensions were also found. These results suggest that in addition to previously reported negative effects of higher BMI on physical health, higher BMI might have negative associations with psychological functioning as well. Furthermore, our results imply that physical appearance might be associated with attachment style in adulthood.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Academy of Finland (grants 111056, and 124399 for L.K.-J. and grant 123621 for L.P.-R.), the Research Funds of the University of Helsinki (project no 2106012 for L.P.-R.), Emil Aaltonen Foundation (M.H.) Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation (M.H.), Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation (L.K.-J. and M.H.), and Niilo Helander Foundation (M.H.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, FIN-00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Mirka Hintsanen, Markus Jokela, Laura Pulkki-Råback & Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen

  2. Department of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Jorma S. A. Viikari

  3. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland

    Laura Pulkki-Råback

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  1. Mirka Hintsanen
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Correspondence to Mirka Hintsanen.

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Hintsanen, M., Jokela, M., Pulkki-Råback, L. et al. Associations of Youth and Adulthood Body-Mass Index and Waist-Hip Ratio with Attachment Styles and Dimensions. Curr Psychol 29, 257–271 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-010-9084-8

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