RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PERCEPTION OF PARENTAL AUTHORITY
AND GENERAL DESIRABILITY FOR CONTROL IN A SAMPLE OF
EATING DISORDER PATIENTS AND COLLEGE STUDENT CONTROLS
The existing literature on causative and correlational factors associated with eating disorders indicates that family characteristics and interactions, as well as power and control issues, may be involved in both the onset and maintenance of these disorders (McKenna, 1989; Mitchell & Eckert, 1987). The established findings in both of these areas may be summarized as follows:
(1) Eating disorders are associated with such factors as lack of family cohesion and inconsistency in parental affection (Scalf-McIver & Thompson, 1989) as well as family anxiety about weight and derogatory attitudes toward the overweight (Wold, 1984).
(2) Eating disorder patients often come from families that inhibit independent and assertive behavior in offspring as well as expression of feelings (Johnson & Flach, 1985; Strober & Humphrey, 1987).
(3) The families of many eating disorder patients are marked by high levels of interpersonal conflict (Johnson & Flach, 1985).
(4) The families of eating disorder patients are either neglectful or over-involved with their offspring (Kog and Vandereycken, 1989).
(5) Family interactions of eating disorder patients lead to disruptions in the development of both a stable identify and self-efficacy (Strober & Humphrey, 1987).
(6) Eating disorder patients evidence strong needs for control (McKenna, 1989; Yeary & Heck, 1989) with strong dissatisfaction with weight being associated with higher levels of need for control (Kiemle, Slade & Dewey, 1988).
In an extensive review of the general findings on family characteristics and control issues of eating disorder patients, Brone and Fisher (1988) postulated that the feelings of powerlessness and need for control so often experienced by eating disorder patients may be related to family chara...