Relations Between Attachment to Mother and Father, Childhood Maltreatment, and Body Shame in Inpatient Adolescents

ABSTRACT

Body shame during adolescence can lead to numerous detrimental outcomes that may not only persist but also worsen in adulthood. Therefore, understanding predictors of body shame, including relational factors, is crucial. The aim of the study was to examine the relationships between attachment security to both mother and father, experiences of childhood maltreatment, and body shame in youth. Seventy-seven inpatient adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 completed the Body Shame subscale of the Experience of Shame Scale, the Security Scale, and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire to respectively assess body shame, attachment security to parents, and experiences of abuse and neglect. Body shame was negatively associated with attachment security to father (but not to mother) and positively correlated with experiences of emotional abuse and emotional neglect. Among the studied factors, attachment security to father emerged as the strongest predictor of body shame in adolescents.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Patient anonymization statement

Potentially personally identifying information presented in this article that relates directly or indirectly to an individual, or individuals, has been changed to disguise and safeguard the confidentiality, privacy and data protection rights of those concerned, in accordance with the journal’s anonymization policy.

Data availability statement

Data are available upon request to the corresponding author.

Ethics approval statement

Approved by the Ethics Committee at University of Houston and Baylor College of Medicine

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15289168.2024.2344239.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karolina Kubicka

Karolina Kubicka is a Ph.D., student at the Faculty of Psychology and a child and adolescent psychotherapist undergoing training in psychodynamic psychotherapy. Her research interests focus on the factors underlying the development of body image in children, with a special interest in the role of dynamics of family relations.

Małgorzata Woźniak-Prus

Małgorzata Woźniak-Prus Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Warsaw and an active clinician in the field of child clinical psychology. Her research interests focus on the determinants of social functioning and the role of mentalizing, emotion regulation, and family relations for child and adolescent well-being and mental health.

Carla Sharp

Carla Sharp Ph.D., is a John and Rebecca Moores Professor and associate dean for faculty and research in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. She is also director of the Adolescent Diagnosis Assessment Prevention and Treatment Center and the Developmental Psychopathology Lab at University of Houston. Her research interests are in how the developmental aspects of personality and social cognition (mentalizing) serve as a cause, correlate, and treatment target of personality pathology across the lifespan.

Małgorzata Gambin

Małgorzata Gambin, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Warsaw. Her research interests focus on the role of family relations and cognitions, social cognition, and emotion regulation in the development of psychopathology and positive adaptation in children, adolescents, and adults.