Upsetting events end up with us overeating. But why do some people manage their emotions with food while others don't?

A psychological concept that helps to explain this difference is adult attachment orientation. Depending on the extent to which they fear abandonment by those they love, adults may develop "attachment anxiety". This in turn determines a set of expectations about how they behave in personal relationships. These are developed as a response to the care they received as an infant and this can characterise their attachment style.

A recent study showed that the higher a person's attachment anxiety, the more they engage in unhealthy eating behaviour. Two other studies have also shown that patients undergoing weight loss surgery are likely to have higher attachment anxiety scores than a comparable lean population, and it is thought that this difference is partly explained by the tendency to overeat.