The investigation of anxiety levels and attachment styles of mothers of children with food refusal complaints: A controlled study

The aim of this study was to examine the anxiety levels and attachment types of mothers of children with food refusal complaints in the early childhood period. The participants were a group of 50 children around the ages of 1-6 with food refusal complaints and their mothers, and a control group of 50 healthy children and their mothers. After filling out the socio-demographic information form, the participating mothers were evaluated using the “Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)” and the “Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ)” under the researcher's supervision. The BAI scores of the mothers in the food refusal group were considerably higher than the mothers in the control group. When the groups were evaluated in terms of RSQ scores, it was determined that 11% of mothers in the food refusal group had secure attachment types while that percentage was 89% for those in the control group; and there was a significant difference between both groups in terms of maternal attachment style. According to the results of the current study, the anxiety and insecure attachment levels of the mothers of children with food refusal complaints were found to be significantly higher than the mothers in the control group. Results indicated a positive correlation between the mothers' anxiety levels and attachment types, and the food refusal problems from early childhood.