Psychopathology and expressed emotion in parents of patients with eating disorders: Relation to patient symptom severity

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relation between parental psychopathology, parental expressed emotion, and patient symptom severity. One hundred twenty-six parents of 79 patients receiving treatment for an eating disorder completed measures of expressed emotion and general psychopathology, and patients completed a measure of eating disorder psychopathology. Mothers reported higher expressed emotion scores than fathers. Both mothers and fathers scored higher on general psychopathology compared to nonpatient population means. Maternal psychopathology was found to be associated with symptom severity. Parental psychopathology and expressed emotion were found to be related, and MANCOVAs revealed that maternal criticism and maternal psychopathology were associated with patient symptom severity, but fathers’ scores on the same measures were not. It is recommended that parental expressed emotion and parental psychopathology are assessed at the beginning of treatment so that appropriate clinical interventions can be utilized.