PARENTAL RESPONSES TO ANOREXIA NERVOSA ADOLESCENTS' ATTEMPTS AT INDIVIDUATIO

To date, the dynamic hypothesis that parents of anorexia nervosa children respond inappropriately to individuation efforts has not been empirically tested. This study attempts to measure the difference between the responses of nine sets of parents of anorexics (as defined by DSM III) and nine sets of parents of normals to adolescent individuation efforts. Three vignettes portraying an adolescent individuating in relation to a parent were presented to each of the 18 subjects. The subjects were then asked: (a)What was the daughter's intention when she did what she did? and (b)What would you do if you were the parent in this situation? The subjects' responses were coded according to the cluster version of the Structural Analysis for Social Behavior model. The SASB model depicts behaviors in terms of focus (other, self), friendliness, and interdependence. It was hypothesized that parents of anorexics would be more likely than parents of normals to interpret individuation as attack and to respond to it with attack or with inappropriate submission. By contrast, it was hypothesized that parents of normals would be more likely than parents of anorexics to understand the individuation efforts and to respond to them by giving freedom. Data were analyzed by the Fisher Exact test and the Mann Whitney U test. Findings confirmed the hypothesis that parents of anorexics are less likely than parents of normals to understand the individuation efforts of their daughters and that parents of anorexics are more likely than parents of normals to attack their daughter for her individuation efforts. Related findings were that parents of anorexics had more difficulty than parents of normals addressing the question of the daughter's intention. Parents of anorexics were also more likely than parents of normals to see their daughter as having a oppressive self-concept when she attempts individuation. Mothers of anorexics were more likely than mothers of normals to attack the daughter for individuation, and they were also more likely to see an oppressive self-concept in the daughter. These findings were not statistically significant for the comparison of fathers of anorexics to fathers of normals.