Perceived hunger mediates the relationship between attachment anxiety and emotional eating

•Attachment anxiety is associated with binge eating, disinhibition, BMI, and hunger.•Attachment anxiety is associated with emotional eating (anxiety and depression).•This association is mediated by perceived hunger.

Eating is an inherently emotional activity and the attachment system is an emotion regulation system. Individuals with attachment insecurity have less interoceptive awareness and difficulty regulating emotion. Insecurely attached individuals may eat emotionally because they misinterpret internal hunger cues, (i.e. think they are hungry when they are experiencing some other internal, attachment-related state). The current study found a positive association between attachment anxiety and emotional eating. This relationship was mediated by perceived hunger.