Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity (2020) 25:205–213 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-018-0551-9 ORIGINAL ARTICLE The role of the perception of family environment in relation to body dissatisfaction, disordered eating and difculties in close relationships Sónia Gonçalves1 · Célia Moreira1 · Mónica Gonçalves1 · Ana Isabel Vieira1 · Bárbara César Machado2 Received: 26 June 2018 / Accepted: 18 July 2018 / Published online: 31 July 2018 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018 Abstract Purpose Invalidating childhood environments have been characterised as those in which caregivers do not validate a child’s personal experiences and the communication of emotions is considered inappropriate, being either ignored or punished. The current study assessed the relationships among invalidating childhood environments, body dissatisfaction, disordered eating and difculties in close relationships in a sample of college students. Methods In this study, 362 non-clinical participants with ages ranging from 17 to 25 years (M = 20.02, SD = 1.51) completed self-report measures. Results Difculties in close relationships, body dissatisfaction and disordered eating were signifcantly higher in invalidating families than in validating families. Invalidating childhood environments were associated with higher body dissatisfaction and disordered eating, and both associations were mediated by difculties in close relationships. Finally, body dissatisfaction mediates the efects of BMI and difculties in close relationships on eating disorder symptoms. Conclusions Perceived experiences of invalidation in childhood may be associated with eating disorder symptomatology. In addition, difculties in close relationships during adulthood possibly contribute to the emergence of eating disorder symptoms. Level of Evidence Level V, descriptive study. Keywords Invalidating childhood environments · Disordered eating · Body dissatisfaction · Difculties in close relationships Introduction Early parent–child relationships are widely conceptual- ised using two major constructs: attachment theory [1] and * Sónia Gonçalves parental bonding [2]. Briefy, the frst theorises that children [email protected] respond to a caregiver’s behaviour to efectively achieve care Célia Moreira and security. The second hypothesises that parenting con- [email protected] tributes to bonding by providing care and protection [3]. Mónica Gonçalves The family environment during childhood is a relevant [email protected] factor for understanding parent–child relationships. In par- Ana Isabel Vieira ticular, invalidating experiences during childhood have [email protected] raised the attention of clinicians and researchers. Invali- Bárbara César Machado dating childhood environments have been characterised by [email protected] the existence of a poor ft between the environment and the 1 Psychotherapy and Psychopathology Research Unit, CIPsi, child’s temperament, where the child’s personal experiences School of Psychology, University of Minho, Campus de are not validated by caregivers, and where the communica- Gualtar, 4710‑057 Braga, Portugal tion of emotions is considered as inappropriate, being either 2 CEDH, Centre for Studies in Human Development, ignored or punished [4–6]. Individuals raised in invalidating Faculty of Education and Psychology, Catholic University families learned to self-invalidate their emotions because of Portugal, Porto, Portugal Vol.:(0123456789)1 3 206 Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity (2020) 25:205–213 they were not allowed to show negative emotions during relationships during adulthood. In the same way, a study of childhood. Japanese women found that more than half of the sample Interestingly, research studies have associated invalidat- developed an eating disorder after the occurrence of marital ing family contexts with eating psychopathology. In fact, problems, the end of a relationship, or a divorce [21]. Other according to Linehan’s model [5], individuals who grew up studies have also linked lower levels of support from roman- in invalidating families are more likely to cope with their tic partners to an increased eating disorders symptomatology negative emotional experiences via non-adaptive behaviours [14, 22]. In particular, Kiriike et al. [21] argued that mari- such as impulsive eating or maintaining a restrictive diet and tal stress was considered as the precipitating factor in most engaging in excessive physical exercise [4, 5, 7]. Research cases of eating disorders and consistently, improvements in has consistently shown that dysfunctional family environ- eating disorder symptoms were often connected with happier ments are a risk factor for emotional dysregulation, which feelings in close relationships. in turn can contribute to the emergence of eating disorders In sum, many studies have found associations between [7–10]. In line with this evidence, in the study of Haslam, invalidating family relationships, body dissatisfaction, eating Arcelus, Farrow, and Meyer [11], with a non-clinical sam- disorder symptoms, and difculties in close relationships. ple, positive associations were found between the experience However, to the best of our knowledge, the potential inter- of maternal and paternal invalidation and eating disorder- mediary processes that link these variables have not been related attitudes. investigated. For example, it is unclear how an invalidating Previous research has also evidenced the infuence of childhood environment could contribute to the development family environments on the body satisfaction. For instance, of eating problems later in life. Possible mechanisms may Boutelle, Eisenberg, Gregory, and Neumark-Sztainer [12] come through the body dissatisfaction and the development conducted a longitudinal study and found that a healthy con- of difculties in close relationships. Given the scarcity of nectivity between parents and children was associated with research regarding the association between these variables, greater body-image satisfaction in a non-clinical sample of this study sought to acquire a better understanding of this adolescent girls. Another study compared young adults from association in a community sample of college students. diferent childhood family environments and verifed that In specifc, this study has the following three main objec- the participants having grown up in invalidating families tives. First, it aims to test if individuals who characterize required greater external validation to achieve a more posi- their families as invalidating present greater difculties in tive self-view, as well as demonstrated higher insecurity with establishing close relationships, greater body dissatisfaction their body image [13]. and higher levels of eating disorders symptomatology. Sec- Therefore, invalidating family environments were associ- ond, this research intends to clarify the association between ated with both eating disorder symptoms and body dissat- all these variables by specifying a pattern of relationships isfaction. The relationship between these three variables is between them. Moreover, since body mass index (BMI) has strengthened by other studies that describe higher levels of a clear and strong efect in body dissatisfaction and eat- body dissatisfaction to greater severity of eating symptoma- ing psychopathology, the pattern of relationships should tology [14–16]. also account for the efect of this measure. The study of Finally, family environments were also associated with these relationships maybe useful for researchers and clini- adult relationships. A recent study by Fraley, Hefernam, cians, allowing to identify possible early origins of disor- Vicary, and Brumbaugh [17] suggested that family interac- dered body and eating attitudes. Finally, this study seeks to tions infuence the mental representations of the self, which explore possible mediator efects in the specifed pattern of in turn infuence adult relationships (e.g., friends and part- relationships. ners). Moreover, research has also shown that attachment relationships, either in childhood or adulthood, afect the body image perception and satisfaction [13, 14, 18]. Difculties in establishing close relationships have been Methods widely related to eating psychopathology. Tasca et al. [19] considered a clinical sample of women exhibiting eating Participants disorder symptomatology and found high levels of insecure attachment. In other studies, women from community sam- In this study, 362 college students with ages ranging from ples with eating disorders symptoms presented character- 17 to 25 years old (M = 20.02, SD = 1.51) were evaluated. istics similar to insecure and anxious attachment styles in Participants were mostly female (n = 315, 87%). The sample adult intimate relationships [20]. Arcelus et al. [14] con- included 223 (61.6%) students from a public higher educa- ducted a meta-analysis and obtained an association between tion establishment and 139 (38.4%) students from a private subclinical eating symptoms and difculties in intimate higher education establishment. 1 3 Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity (2020) 25:205–213 207 Measures In this study, Cronbach’s alphas for the ED-15 ranged from .82 to .91. Four scales were used in this study. Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory (ECR). The Invalidating Childhood Environments Scale (ICES). ECR [18, 27] consists of 36 items assessed using a Likert The