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Anorectic family dynamics: temperament and character data
Secondo Fassino1, Dragan Svrakic, Giovanni Abbate-Daga
1Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Torino University School of Medicine, Turin, Italy.
Comprehensive Psychiatry
|March 15, 2002
Summary
Anorexia nervosa (AN) involves both inherited temperament and learned character traits. Anorectic individuals and their families showed low self-directedness, suggesting complex character development issues beyond obsessive temperaments.
Area of Science:
- Psychobiology
- Clinical Psychology
- Genetics
Background:
- Personality is viewed as a complex adaptive system.
- It involves bidirectional interaction between heritable neurobiologic dispositions (temperament) and social learning (character).
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate temperament and character traits in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and their parents.
- To analyze trait correlations within anorectic families.
- To test the Temperament and Character Inventory's (TCI) ability to discriminate between AN subjects and controls.
Main Methods:
- Compared TCI profiles of 50 anorectic patients and their parents with 60 control women and their parents.
- Analyzed temperament traits: harm avoidance (HA), novelty seeking (NS), persistence (P), reward dependence (RD).
- Assessed character traits: self-directedness (SD).
Main Results:
- Anorectic individuals showed high HA, low NS, high P (obsessive temperament), and low SD.
- Mothers had low SD; fathers had high HA, low P, high RD, and low SD.
- Low SD was a common trait across all family members in the anorectic families.
- TCI effectively discriminated between anorectic and control groups, including families.
Conclusions:
- Both temperament and character factors are implicated in the etiopathogenesis of AN.
- AN psychopathology combines obsessive temperaments with low character development (low SD).
- Findings have significant implications for AN treatment strategies.