Background: Parents have a control
role in the development and
treatment of
eating disorders among
teenagers .
Aim: To compare
attitudes ,
beliefs and
behaviors between
mothers of
patients with
eating disorders and
mothers of
teenagers without these disorders. Material and
methods: Twenty one
mother -
sibling pairs of
adolescents with
eating disorders and 15 pairs of
adolescents without this condition, but of
similar age, were studied. The
eating disorders inventory (EDI-2), a
self administered
questionnaire that includes 91 items, was applied.
Results: No differences in any of the subscales of EDI-2 were observed between
mothers of
teenagers with or without
eating disorders . No differences in
perfectionism , maturity
fears ,
impulsivity and interpersonal distrust were observed between
adolescents with and without
eating disorders . The latter had a lesser
drive for
thinness and inefficacy.
Conclusions: In this sample, no differences in
behaviors ,
attitudes and
beliefs about
food , were observed between
mothers of
adolescents with and without
eating disorders .