Girls whose mothers, fathers, and grandparents are highly educated have a higher risk of developing an eating disorder, particularly if the girls themselves do well in school.
Eating disorders are very common among young women. To investigate the associations of social characteristics of parents and grandparents, sibling position, and school performance with incidence of eating disorders, researches studied 13,376 Swedish females born between 1952 and 1989. The researchers obtained data about the participants and their grandparental and parental social characteristics, sibling position, school grades, hospitalizations, emigrations, and deaths.
The vast majority of girls in the study were never treated for an eating disorder, regardless of family education and grades. It was found that as parents' or grandmothers' education increased, so did girls' risk of being hospitalised for anorexia or another eating disorder. Similarly, the risk climbed in tandem with the girls' own grades in high school. Overall, girls whose parents went to college had about twice the risk of being treated for an eating disorder as those whose parents had only an elementary-school education. The risk was six times higher among girls whose maternal grandmothers had a college education, compared with those whose grandmothers who had gone to elementary school only.
The above findings suggest that girls from families with higher academic achievement are at relatively greater risk of an eating disorder. This was attributed to the assumption that that these girls feel more pressure from family to succeed, which for some could translate into an obsession with controlling their eating and body weight. In addition, higher-achieving girls may be more likely to have certain personality traits, such as perfectionism, that make them relatively more vulnerable to eating disorders.
The researchers warned the parents against potential signs of an eating disorder such as when a child begins to skip meals, routinely goes to the bathroom after a meal or loses weight for no clear reason.
Eating disorders are very common among young women. To investigate the associations of social characteristics of parents and grandparents, sibling position, and school performance with incidence of eating disorders, researches studied 13,376 Swedish females born between 1952 and 1989. The researchers obtained data about the participants and their grandparental and parental social characteristics, sibling position, school grades, hospitalizations, emigrations, and deaths.
The vast majority of girls in the study were never treated for an eating disorder, regardless of family education and grades. It was found that as parents' or grandmothers' education increased, so did girls' risk of being hospitalised for anorexia or another eating disorder. Similarly, the risk climbed in tandem with the girls' own grades in high school. Overall, girls whose parents went to college had about twice the risk of being treated for an eating disorder as those whose parents had only an elementary-school education. The risk was six times higher among girls whose maternal grandmothers had a college education, compared with those whose grandmothers who had gone to elementary school only.
The above findings suggest that girls from families with higher academic achievement are at relatively greater risk of an eating disorder. This was attributed to the assumption that that these girls feel more pressure from family to succeed, which for some could translate into an obsession with controlling their eating and body weight. In addition, higher-achieving girls may be more likely to have certain personality traits, such as perfectionism, that make them relatively more vulnerable to eating disorders.
The researchers warned the parents against potential signs of an eating disorder such as when a child begins to skip meals, routinely goes to the bathroom after a meal or loses weight for no clear reason.