Controlled Study of Eating Concerns and Psychopathological Traits in Relatives of Eating-Disordered Probands: Do Familial Traits Exist?

To examine the extent to which first-degree relatives of eating-disordered (ED) probands endorse maladaptive eating attitudes and personality affective traits, we compared self-reported eating concerns (Restraint, Emotional Eating, Body Dissatisfaction, and maladaptive eating attitudes) and psychopathological traits (Affective Instability, Anxiousness, Compulsitivity, and Narcissism) across groups of restricter (n = 29), and nondieter control (NC,n =28) probands, and then across participating nuclear family members. Results among probands were as anticipated: ED probands showed expected elevations in both areas, and predicted restricter/binger differences were obtained. However, corresponding differences were not obtained on measures of mothers's, fathers', or siblings' eating concerns and traits. Our findings corroborate the notion that Eds represent a convergence of eating, affective, and personality disturbances, but not that such a clustering of features exist as a familiar trait. We discuss normal trait and attitudinal variations observed in ED probands' relatives in light of findings showing Eds and other psychiatric syndromes to aggregate within families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]