The perception of relations in the family of origin of patients with eating disorders and the perception of relations in families of origin of their parents

Aim. Analysis of the correlation between the assessment of current family relations in families of patients diagnosed with eating disorders and the assessment of the relations in the family of origin of their parents. Material. 54 female patients with restrictive anorexia nervosa, 22 female patients with binge-purge anorexia, 36 female patients with bulimia. Two control groups were included: 36 female patients with depressive disorders and 85 schoolgirls from Krakow. The study also covered the girls’ parents. Method. Family of Origin Scale and FAM Family Assessment Measure (Polish version). Results. In the families of schoolgirls from Krakow better evaluation of the experience of intimacy and autonomy in the family of origin of parents of the investigated girls was associated with their and their children more favourable perception of relations in the present nuclear family. What proved particularly significant were perception of transgenerational experiences of the fathers. Only a few statistically significant correlations were observed in all clinical groups. In the parents of the investigated patients a weak correlation was observed between the current marital relations perception and transgenerational experiences evaluation and a significant correlation between parents’ transgenerational experience evaluation and the assessment of the relations with their daughters. Conclusions. No specific correlations were found between the perception of the transgenerational experience of parents and evaluation of current relations in the nuclear family of their children with eating disorders. The results in the group with eating disorders suggest that the relations between parents and daughters are more intense than marital relations.