Family patterns associated with anorexia nervosa*

A family systems perspective was used to explore familial transactional patterns related to anorexia nervosa. Father, mother and daughter, interpersonal assessments of parental initiative and daughter responsive behaviors as reported on Benjamin's (1974) Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB), were combined to serve as data for a hierarchical cluster analysis. Out of the 22 families with an anorexic child and the 22 matched control families, 7 family groups with unique family dynamics differentiating one from another emerged out of the clustering procedure. Prototypic family profiles were established and examined using Benjamin's (1984) program Figure (FIG) to explicate central features of the family transactional relationships. With no single family pattern characterizing the families of the anorexic daughters, the study challenges earlier family theories that postulated a single anorexogenic family system, and supports a broader, more complex view of anorexics and their families.