Designing and Testing a Structural Model of Attachment Styles and Negative Affects Variables as Predictors of Young Men s Body Dissatisfaction

Introduction: The main objective of this study was to investigate the role of attachment styles in body dissatisfaction with the mediating role of negative affects in male students at the Allameh Tabataba i University. Methods: In this paper, a cross sectional study was employed to survey convenience sampling method on 250 male students from March to May 2017. They answered the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21), Revised Adult Attachment Scale (RAAS) and Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire-Appearance Scales (MBSRQ-AS). Structural equation modeling was utilized in this study. Results: Analysis of the data indicated that the proposed model had adequate goodness-of-fit indices. In addition, the findings demonstrated that attachment style was directly related to the body dissatisfaction. It should be noted that attachments style predicted slightly body dissatisfaction by the mediation of negative affects. Conclusions: As a result, men with insecure attachment styles are likely to look more critical towards their bodies and experience more negative affects which may maintain body dissatisfaction.