Intimacy Patterns and Relationship Satisfaction of Women with Eating Problems and the Mediating Effects of Depression, Trait Anxiety and Social Anxiety

The association between eating problems; and intimacy and relationship styles was examined. Young adult females (n = 360) completed the Adult Attachment Style (AAS), questionnaire; questions on satisfaction with intimacy; the Sexual Attitude Scale; items on sexual avoidance; a set of six descriptions for mother, friend, and partner; and measures of depression, general anxiety, social anxiety, and eating problems. Women with greater eating problems described more difficulties in intimate relationships including less satisfaction with closeness, more discomfort in close intimate relationships, and less positive descriptions of friend and mother. When depression, general anxiety, and social anxiety were entered first in a regression, intimacy measures no longer added unique variance. However, public self-consciousness predicted over and above general affect and social anxiety measures. Results were consistent with a mediator model in which intimacy difficulties for women with eating problems are explained by depression, trait anxiety, and public self-consciousness.