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. 2025 Jun 4;25(1):2077.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-23071-x.

Disordered eating in young Chinese adults: role of parenting styles, attachment anxiety, and negative coping styles

Chenfan Yang  1   2 , Feifei Li  3 , Nurul Fazzuan Khalid  2
Affiliations

Disordered eating in young Chinese adults: role of parenting styles, attachment anxiety, and negative coping styles

Chenfan Yang et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Disordered eating (DE) is prevalent among young adults and poses significant risks to their physical and mental health. Parenting styles have been shown to strongly influence DE. This study investigates the roles of attachment anxiety and negative coping styles as psychological mediators in the relationship between parenting styles and DE among young Chinese adults.

Method: A total of 814 university students aged 17-23 (49.0% female, M = 20.05 years, SD = 1.24) from southeastern coastal universities in China participated in this study. Participants completed the short-form Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran for Chinese (EMBU-C, assessing parenting styles), the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale-Short (ECR-12, measuring attachment anxiety), the Short Form Coping Style Questionnaire (SFCSQ, evaluating negative coping styles), and the Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26, assessing DE).

Result: Attachment anxiety significantly mediated the relationships between parental rejection and DE, with indirect effects of 0.20 (95% CI [0.10, 0.31]) for both paternal and maternal rejection. Similarly, attachment anxiety mediated the relationships between parental overprotection and DE, with indirect effects of 0.13 (95% CI [0.06, 0.21]) for paternal overprotection and 0.12 (95% CI [0.06, 0.20]) for maternal overprotection. Furthermore, attachment anxiety and negative coping styles formed a serial mediation pathway in these relationships, with indirect effects of 0.07 (95% CI [0.03, 0.12]) for both paternal and maternal rejection, 0.05 (95% CI [0.02, 0.08]) for paternal overprotection, and 0.04 (95% CI [0.02, 0.08]) for maternal overprotection.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates the complex interplay between parenting styles and DE in young adults, emphasizing the significant roles of attachment anxiety and negative coping styles as mediators. These findings provide valuable insights for developing interventions targeting psychological factors and coping strategies to effectively prevent and address DE in young Chinese adults.

Keywords: Attachment Anxiety; Disordered Eating; Negative coping styles; Parenting Styles; Serial Mediation; Young adults.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The project was approved by the Guangdong Business and Technology University Ethics Committee and endorsed by all partner universities. All participants participated in this study with fully informed consent. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Schematic diagrams of the study hypotheses. The top panel corresponds to (a), the middle panel to Model 1, and the bottom panel to Model 2
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The coefficients for each path in the model are unstandardized regression coefficients. The upper panel corresponds to (a), and the lower panel corresponds to (b). Abbreviations: PR Paternal Rejection, MR Maternal Rejection, NCS Negative Coping Styles, A-Anx Attachment Anxiety, DE Disordered Eating. *p <.05, **p <.01, ***p <.001
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The coefficients for each path in the model are unstandardized regression coefficients. The upper panel corresponds to (a), and the lower panel corresponds to (b). Abbreviations: PO Paternal Overprotection, MO Maternal Overprotection, NCS Negative Coping Styles, A-Anx Attachment Anxiety, DE Disordered Eating. *p <.05,, **p <.01, ***p <.001
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The moderating role of negative coping styles on the relationship between attachment anxiety and DE under parental rejection. The upper panel corresponds to (a), and the lower panel corresponds to (b)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
The moderating role of negative coping styles on the relationship between attachment anxiety and DE under parental overprotection. The upper panel corresponds to (a), and the lower panel corresponds to (b)
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