Communication Currents

Eating disorders affect millions of people and their families. In the United States, approximately 600,000 to 1.5 million individuals suffer from anorexia nervosa, 3 - 6 million individuals suffer from bulimia nervosa, and 4.5 - 6 million individuals suffer from binge eating disorder. Clinical eating disorders have a higher risk of mortality than any other mental health disorder and are disproportionately high among females (90% of all cases are women).

We define disordered eating attitudes in terms of body dissatisfaction and unhealthy weight control beliefs and practice, including self-perceptions of body shape, dieting, awareness of food contents, and food preoccupation. Our study explored how mothers’ communication is associated with disordered eating attitudes through social competence; that is, we predicted that mother’s communication à daughter’s social competence à daughter’s disordered eating attitudes.

Mother’s Communication à Daughter’s Disordered Eating Attitudes 

Communication between mothers and their children can be especially predictive of daughters’ body image concerns. For instance, warmth in mother-daughter relationships can protect against daughters’ eating pathology and weight concerns, whereas a lack of closeness and difficulty talking with mothers are factors that increase risk of developing eating disorders.

We found that a pattern of extreme criticism and over-involvement (i.e., expressed emotion), which is usually communicated by parents toward their children, to be associated with daughters’ disordered eating attitudes. This criticism and hyper-involvement appears to promote a struggle for control and personal growth often expressed in disordered eating. This type of communication is also found in families with children suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, as well. If internalized, expressed emotion could easily diminish a child’s sense of self-worth and social competence, as it seems to promote a struggle for control and self-enhancement.

Mother’s Communication à Daughter’s Social Competence 

Social competence refers to an individuals’ ability to achieve personal goals through social interaction while simultaneously maintaining positive relationships with others. Family interactions are important for social consequences of the child (e.g., loneliness, maladjustment, bullying), as families characterized by coldness, inhibited expression of feelings, and feeling misunderstood by parents are associated with children’s lack of intimate and meaningful relationships. Experiencing constant criticism, conflict, and control from parents would not allow children to feel free to express their thoughts and feelings, nor allow them to develop the proper skills necessary to build and maintain significant and meaningful relationships.

Daughter’s Social Competence à Daughter’s Disordered Eating Attitudes 

Individuals with body image issues and disordered eating often struggle with social interactions, including the negotiation of conflict and expression of their feelings. They also experience social withdrawal, anxiety insocial situations, and fear of negative evaluation. Our results suggest disordered eating could be a result of attempting to enhance social competence. Because Western ideals center on and reward attractiveness and thinness, particularly through media portrayals, attractive people are thought to have more positive characteristics, including being perceived as more interesting and sociable than unattractive people. This may explain why women attach social benefits to their ideas about weight, especially if they consider social competence as a part of their overall self-esteem.

Further, disordered eating may provide short-term relief to those with interpersonal difficulties and may also be a maladaptive coping mechanism for social incompetence. Women with eating disorders who also have low social competence engage in self-destructive behaviors in an effort to solicit others’ concern or support they otherwise would not receive because of low social competence. Taken together, weight is a means to enhance social competence, seek social support, and cope with psychological distress.

Practical Application  

Our study calls attention to family interactions as a key factor related to disordered eating attitudes, so it is important to raise parents’ awareness of the role family interactions play in daughters’ self-views, social competence, and mental health.

Fortunately, those who study communication have begun to uncover constructive forms of communicating about weight and have identified two aspects of weight-related messages that may facilitate personal and psychosocial development (e.g., self-esteem and identity strength) and promote health behaviors (e.g., such as weight management). The first aspect is acceptance, which refers to showing positive regard, warmth, and attentiveness during interactions (e.g., “I think you look great just the way you are – you don’t need to change a thing!”), and the second aspect is challenge, which refers topushing the other to achieve a greater potential during interactions (e.g., “But even if you don’t change your body, eating healthy is good for you and may help you feel better about yourself”). Acceptance is similar to warmth and cohesion within the family, serving as a protective factor against disordered eating. But more than just positive regard, challenge encourages others to think differently about themselves and their behaviors. Parents’ utilization of the combination of acceptance and challenge – that is, support messages that focus on daughters’ emotions and also induce change – may be a promising and effective communication strategy in discussing weight issues and concerns with their daughters.

Another practical way parents can monitor daughters’ psychosocial development is by promoting social competence. Parents are the primary agents in the development of their children’s social skills, so by employing effective and appropriate social skills themselves (e.g., less conflict), focusing on healthy parent-child relationships (e.g., less criticism, less overprotection), and fostering secure bonds with their children (e.g., less emotional involvement), daughters may be more likely to establish secure relationships that promote positive interactions, the open expression of their emotions, and self-disclosure. Such positive factors encourage greater social competence, and social competence may be a protective factor in the development of psychosocial distress and disordered eating attitudes.