Abstract

MAGLIO, Ana Laura  and  MOLINA, María Fernanda. Families of adolescents with eating disorders. How their members perceive the family functioning?. Rev. Mex. de trastor. aliment [online]. 2012, vol.3, n.1, pp.1-10. ISSN 2007-1523.

The aim of this study was to examine family functioning of different family members of adolescents with eating disorders (ED) at the start of psychotherapy and analyze the differences in their perception, since the approach of Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems. The study included 170 people grouped in 20 of adolescents with ED (father, mother, adolescent and sibling closest in age) and 26 control families. For this analysis, the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale and the Adolescent-Parent Communication Inventory were used. The clinical families had lower clinical cohesion, less open communications and more communication problems. Siblings perceived less cohesion than the rest of the family and also reported having a negative communication pattern with their parents. The family functioning perception differs between family members, that's why perception of one member is not generalizable to all family group. The inclusion of siblings allows detecting non shared family environmental factors. We discuss the implication of these results in the psychotherapeutic treatment.

Keywords : Family Functioning; Eating Disorders; Adolescents; Siblings.