Relational attitudes in adolescent girls with and without a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa or atypical anorexia nervosa

Journal of Eating Disorders

Research

Roni Rom¹  Rami Tolmacz¹  Orit Krispin²  Iris Shachar-Lavie²  Rachel Bachner-Melman³  Lilac Lev-Ari⁴ 

[1] Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel;Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel, Petah Tikva, Israel;Clinical Psychology Graduate Program, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer, Israel;School of Social Work, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel;Clinical Psychology Graduate Program, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer, Israel;The Lior Tsfaty Center for Suicide and Mental Pain Studies, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer, Israel;

关键词: Relational attitudes;    Anorexia nervosa;    Atypical anorexia nervosa;    Sense of relational entitlement;    Pathological concern;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40337-023-00896-8

 received in 2023-05-25, accepted in 2023-09-19,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPeople with eating disorders experience interpersonal difficulties, but little research explores relational attitudes in this population. We examined sense of relational entitlement towards parents, pathological concern, and psychological distress in adolescent girls with and without anorexia nervosa (AN) or atypical anorexia nervosa (AAN).MethodsQuestionnaires assessing sense of entitlement towards parents, pathological concern, and symptoms of depression and anxiety were completed by 85 girls with and 100 girls without AN/AAN (mean age 15.06 ± 1.41). The AN/AAN group also completed a measure of ED pathology.ResultsEating pathology, pathological concern and symptoms of depression and anxiety were positively associated with both restricted and inflated sense of entitlement towards parents. AN/AAN participants scored significantly higher than controls on restricted and inflated sense of entitlement, pathological concern and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Restricted sense of entitlement and pathological concern partially mediation the association between AN/AAN and symptoms of depression and fully mediated the association between AN/AAN and anxiety. Within the AN/AAN group, pathological concern and symptoms of depression explained a large proportion of the variance in ED pathology.ConclusionsAdolescent AN/AAN takes a heavy toll on emotional and social health, perhaps in part because crucial aspects of relational mutuality fail to develop. Teens with AN/AAN tend to over-focus on their parents’ needs at the expense of their own needs. They also have impaired capacity to realistically appraise expectations from their parents, tending to feel over- and/or under-entitled to need fulfillment. These relational attitudes are associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety and should be addressed in therapy.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

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