The relationship between separation individuation process and Orthorexia Nervosa: The mediator role of vulnerable Narcissism

In this study, it was aimed to examine the mediating role of vulnerable narcissism in the relationship between separation-individuation process and orthorexia nervosa. 238 participants ages between 18 and 49 participated in the study. “Sociodemographic Information Form”, “Separation-Individuation Form”, “Orto-11” and “Pathological Narcissism Inventory were used on participants. In the analysis, the first Pearson Correlation was applied to examine the relationship between separation-individuation, orthorexia nervosa and vulnerable narcissism. After the correlation analysis, the mediation was conducted to understand the mediating role of vulnerable narcissism effects of separation-individuation and orthorexia nervosa. The mediating role of analysis showed that separation-individuation were significantly and positively associated with the vulnerable narcissism. The direct effects of vulnerable narcissism on orthorexia nervosa were found to be positively significant. The total effect on separation-individuation to orthorexia nervosa was found to be positively significant. In general, higher levels of vulnerable narcissism were related to orthorexia nervosa tendency and higher levels of separation-individuation issues. Moreover, higher levels of separation-individuation issues were related to orthorexia nervosa. The results obtained by this research can be crucial to understand early relationships influence on personality and orthorexia nervosa’s relationship with it.