Korean J Psychosom Med.  2015 Jun;23(1):3-11. 10.0000/kjpm.2015.23.1.3.

Parental Behavior Influence on the Onset and Severity of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa

• Lee JE
• Lee JH
• Jung YC
• Park JY
• Namkoong K
• Park DW
• Kim KR

• KMID: 2071074
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.0000/kjpm.2015.23.1.3

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
To determine the influence of parental behaviors on the onset and severity of eating disorders, this study compared aspects of perceived parental styles, according to eating disorder subtypes and age at onset in Korean women with eating disorders.
METHODS
One hundred and sixty-seven patients with eating disorders[Anorexia Nervosa (AN), N=49; Bulimia Nervosa(BN), N=118] were recruited for this study. Perceived parent behaviors were assessed with Parental Behavior Inventory(PBI) self-rating scale. The study subjects also completed the Eating Disorder Inventory -2 (EDI-2) to assess the severity of eating disorder symptoms.
RESULTS
In anorexia nervosa, early onset group(<16 years) reported low paternal affection and high paternal rational expression, low maternal interference than group with age at onset over 16 years. The severity of eating disorder symptoms was negatively associated with mother affection and rational expression in two subtypes of eating disorder(AN and BN). On stepwise regression analysis, paternal affection and maternal over-protection were associated with age of onset only in AN group and maternal affection was associated with the severity of symptoms in both groups of eating disorder.
CONCLUSIONS
Considering the role of family function and perceived parental styles could help improve the management of eating disorders. These results emphasize the importance of fathers' role in the eating disorder on the age of onset, a relatively unexplored area of eating disorder research. Also, we investigated the importance of mothers' affection on the severity of symptoms.

Keyword

Anorexia nervosa; Bulimia nervosa; Parental behaviors

MeSH Terms

Age of Onset
Anorexia Nervosa*
Bulimia
Bulimia Nervosa*
Eating
Eating Disorders
Female
Humans
Mothers
Parents*