Abstract
IntroductionAnorexia nervosa (AN) promotes psychological distress in caregivers who adopt different coping strategies. Dysfunctional caregiving styles exacerbate further distress in the patient promoting the maintenance of the illness. We aimed to assess the possible contribution of personality traits of caregivers to the adoption of different coping strategies to deal with the affected relative.MethodsAbout 87 adolescents with AN were recruited. Their parents completed the Family Coping Questionnaire for Eating Disorders (FCQ-EDs) and the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R). Differences between mothers and fathers were assessed through the independent sample t-test. Multivariate regression analyses were run to assess if personality traits, the occurrence of psychiatry conditions in the parents, the marital status, and the duration of the illness predicted parental coping strategies.ResultsThe group of mothers showed higher levels of avoidance and seeking for information coping strategies than the sample of fathers. Lower illness duration predicted higher collusion with the illness in both parents. Harm avoidance, cooperativeness, and self-directedness positively predicted parental coercion, collusion, and seeking for information strategies with some differences between mothers and fathers.DiscussionIllness duration and personality traits of parents affect the type of parental coping strategies developed to face AN in adolescents. These variables should be considered in the assessment of families of adolescents with AN and may be addressed to promote more fine-tuned clinical interventions for caregivers.
Highlights
Anorexia nervosa (AN) promotes psychological distress in caregivers who adopt different coping strategies
Some differences were detected between mothers and fathers, given that in the group of fathers, collusion was positively predicted by cooperativeness, while positive communication with the patient was higher at illness onset and positively predicted by novelty seeking; in the group of mothers, instead, coercion was predicted by self-directedness
In accordance with this background, we found that illness duration was a significant negative predictor of the collusion of mothers and fathers and a negative predictor of positive communication of fathers with the patients
Summary
Anorexia nervosa (AN) promotes psychological distress in caregivers who adopt different coping strategies. We aimed to assess the possible contribution of personality traits of caregivers to the adoption of different coping strategies to deal with the affected relative. Parental Strategies in Anorexia Nervosa before symptoms develop (Cardi et al, 2018b), while a wide range of alterations in social cognitive processes has been found in the acute phase of the illness (Monteleone et al, 2018, 2020) and partially after recovery (Oldershaw et al, 2011). The family relationships may either contribute to the AN development/maintenance (Schmidt and Treasure, 2006; Treasure and Schmidt, 2013) or are seriously affected by the AN onset (Treasure and Nazar, 2016). Parents are involved in providing meal support, emotional, and financial help and may be essential to bridge isolation of their affective relative, especially in adolescents (Murray et al, 2015)
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