Ambivalent attachment in female adolescents: association with affective instability and eating disorders.
OBJECTIVE
This report reviews narrative data from the ambivalent attachment subgroup of a larger attachment investigation, in order to probe beyond substantive results showing significant differences between secure and ambivalent attachment, with respect to hypothesized personality correlates.


METHODS
Two readers coded common themes in semistructured 2-hr interviews, which focused on attachment to mother and experience of self, using a sample of 28 female college undergraduates classified as secure (n = 10), ambivalent (n = 11), or avoidant (n = 7) in their primary attachments.


RESULTS
Coded data revealed two striking correlates of ambivalent attachment not anticipated by the study's hypotheses: (1) reports of affective instability in 9 of 11 ambivalent subjects; (2) histories of anorexia, sometimes followed by bulimia, in 7 of 11 ambivalent subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
A provisional understanding of possible links among ambivalent attachment, affective instability, and anorexia is offered.
Salzman
J P
JP
Boston Evening Medical Center, Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, USA.
D000293:Adolescent; D000296:Adolescent Psychiatry; D000328:Adult; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D012189:Retrospective Studies