Pathways to disordered eating: the role of adverse experiences, attachment security and intolerance of uncertainty.

This study aims to understand how attachment security and adverse life events in childhood predict intolerance to uncertainty (IU) and disordered eating in early adulthood. New data on IU, disordered eating and mental health (anxiety and depression) will be collected at age 23-24 years on a cohort of individuals that have been followed from infancy (8 months). These data will be integrated with existing data from this cohort on mother–child attachment security in infancy and early childhood, children’s eating behaviours at age 5, adverse life events in childhood and adolescence, and mental health at age 18.