Personality traits between parent-adolescent interaction in anorexia nervosa at onset: Control-case study

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between personality traits of parents and their daughters with anorexia nervosa (AN) by a case-control study. Fifty adolescent girls with AN (G-AN) and 50 control girls without pathology (GC) were measured with the “Junior Temperament and Character Inventory” and the “Eating Disorder Inventory-2“, and both parents. The G-AN and the CG did not differ in personality traits. Both parents of G-AN showed significant differences in temperamental and character traits compared to both parents in CG. In the G-AN, complementary relationships were found in mothers’ harm avoidance daughters cooperativeness and fantasy, while in fathers and daughters associations between reward dependence, persistence and self-directedness were found. The only scale that discriminated between the two groups was drive for thinness for G-AN and CG (classification: 74.7%). Identifying personality traits of parents and their daughters at the onset of AN will allow improvements in the intervention.