CP Research Corner: Mothers and Daughters

Vazquez-Velazquez et al. (2017) wanted to identify the associations between psychological profile and eating behavior of mothers and daughters with AN, BN, and BED. When looking at the AN results, they found that were significant differences between them in almost all variables and most of the correlations between the mother and daughter were inverse, suggesting a conflict in identification with the mother in AN. In BN, they found significant differences between mother and daughter in all variables and, importantly, an inverse correlation between the daughter’s disinhibition and mother’s dietary restraint suggests that they both have difficulty restricting their eating. In BED, they found that hunger of the mother was significantly correlated with disinhibition and the daughter and increased BMI in the daughter was correlated with lower drive for thinness in the mother.

Eating Behavior of Mothers and Daughters

In NW, there were associations between the mother and daughter, which seemed normal given the nature of the mother-daughter relationship, indicating that the mothers of the NW group may have had a positive influence on their daughters. Overall, they found that there were associations between mothers and daughters with AN, BN, and BED, which varied depending on the specific diagnosis of the daughter, which is useful to know. These findings present an opportunity to use family interventions to help treat eating disorders in adolescents.References:Eating behavior and psychological profile: associations between daughters with distinct eating disorders and their mothers