title: Narcissistic Vulnerability and Grandiosity as Mediators Between Insecure Attachment and Future Eating Disordered Behaviors: A Prospective Analysis of Over 2,000 Freshmen.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to build on existing literature by examining the potential mediating role of two variants of narcissism (grandiosity and vulnerability) in explaining part of the underlying mechanism by which insecure (avoidant and anxiety) attachment affects behavioral elements of eating pathology (dieting and bulimic behaviors).
  
  
  METHODS
  Longitudinal data collected from 2,055 freshman college students (52.2% women; mean age 18.34 years) were analysed using a latent variable structural equation modelling approach, controlling for initial levels of the endogenous (i.e., dependent) latent variables and holding body mass index, anxiety, stress, depression, and self-esteem levels as time-varying covariates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The effect of attachment anxiety on future bulimic behaviors was fully mediated through vulnerable narcissism (i.e., no significant direct link between attachment anxiety and bulimic behaviors), whereas grandiose narcissism fully mediated the association between attachment avoidance and future dieting behaviors. Dieting also predicted future bulimic behaviors and served as an additional (full) mediator between grandiose narcissism and bulimic behaviors. Differences in the strength of these associations across gender were not observed, and all indirect effects were statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, the findings (a) seem to support the theoretical postulations linking different insecure attachment experiences to different narcissistic tendencies, (b) imply that specific insecure attachment patterns may pass through different mediating pathways (narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability) to specific behavioral elements of eating pathology (dieting and bulimic behaviors) regardless of gender, and (c) suggest that individuals with high grandiose narcissistic levels may not be protected from bulimic behaviors as previously indicated.
authors.affiliation: University of Pavia.|University of Milano-Bicocca.
authors.forename: Antonios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dakanalis
authors.affiliation: University of Milano-Bicocca.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Clerici
authors.affiliation: University College of London.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Carrà
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D002032:Bulimia / Q000523:psychology*; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009289:Narcissism; D009769:Object Attachment; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: attachment; eating disorders; gender; longitudinal study; mediators; personality