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

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.