According to attachment theory, potentially threatening stimuli tend to activate the attachment system for the search of the protective figure. In secure attachments, the experience of responsive relationships increases the probability of resorting to available figures as a strategy for regulating emotions in stressful situations. The aim of the research was to verify whether, in conditions of mild threat, children’s attachment styles affect the choice between caring relationships and food as a form of emotion regulation. We used a mixed experimental design to perform this research. Here, we presented children (N = 65; M_age= 9.4) with threatening and neutral images and, afterwards, asked them to select from images of caring relationship or images of food. The results indicate that securely and ambivalently attached but not avoidantly attached children under both the neutral and threatening image conditions chose the care pictures over the food pictures. Second, only the securely attached increased their choice of care over food images in the threatening condition, and third, this difference was significant when compared with the avoidant children. In conclusion, the results show that although in general the choice of care is primary with respect to food, children with insecure attachments differ from secure children between the two options of emotional regulation.

根据依恋理论，潜在的威胁性刺激趋向于激活依恋系统以寻找保护性人物。在安全的依恋关系中，响应式关系的体验会增加诉诸可用数字作为调节压力情况下情绪的策略的可能性。该研究的目的是验证在轻度威胁条件下，儿童的依恋方式是否会影响关爱关系和食物（作为情绪调节的一种形式）之间的选择。我们使用了混合实验设计来进行这项研究。在这里，我们介绍了儿童（N  = 65；M_岁= 9.4）带有威胁性和中性的图片，然后要求他们从关怀关系的图片或食物的图片中进行选择。结果表明，在中性和威胁性图像条件下，安全，含糊不清但并非不可避免地依恋的儿童选择了护理图片，而不是食物图片。其次，只有安全依恋的人才能在威胁性条件下增加对食物图像的照料选择，第三，与回避儿童相比，这种差异是显着的。总之，结果表明，尽管一般而言，就食物而言，照料的选择是首要的，但在两种情绪调节方式之间，依恋不安全的孩子与有安全感的孩子有所不同。