Responses to emotions in parents of young people with eating disorders
Research type
Research Study
Full title
What is the relationship between parental beliefs about emotions, self-compassion and responses to emotions, and child eating disorder symptoms?
IRAS ID
318825
Contact name
Lizzie Neely
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Canterbury Christchurch University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 30 days
Research summary
Research Summary
This project aims to examine the relationships between parental beliefs about emotions, self-compassion and responses to difficult emotions, and how these variables relate to eating disorder symptoms in their children. Emotional regulation difficulties are central to eating disorders, and parents are theorised to have a role in supporting their children to develop healthy emotional regulation strategies. It has been proposed that higher parental self-compassion is related to more supportive parental responses to child emotions, in turn resulting in lower levels of child emotional and behavioural problems. Parental beliefs about emotions may also have an impact on their own ability to be self-compassionate, and the supportiveness of their responses to their child's emotions. This proposed model has not been tested in an eating disorder population, and if it is supported it may have implications for the development of compassion-focused interventions for young people with eating disorders and their families.
The study will have a cross-sectional design and involve primary caregivers of young people with an eating disorder diagnosis. It will recruit from NHS eating disorder services as well as approaching eating disorder charities and parent networks, and requesting they publicise the research so that eligible participants can opt to participate. It will also be publicised on social media, and eligible participants will be able to self-refer to the study.Summary of Results
Parents/carers of young people with eating disorders completed questionnaires about their beliefs about emotions, self-compassion, expressed emotion, responses to their child’s emotions, and their child’s eating disorder symptoms. The study aimed to investigate the relationships between these factors. We decided to research this because theories suggest that parental self-compassion may be a factor that relates to emotional and behavioural difficulties in young people, but there has been limited research into this. Given the significant impact on parents and families of caring for a young person with an eating disorder, we wanted to investigate these variables, to help inform interventions involving parents/carers.
The study found that among parents with higher levels of self-compassion (the ability to respond to oneself with kindness and compassion in times of distress), levels of expressed emotion were lower. In turn, lower levels of expressed emotion predicted less severe eating disorder symptoms in young people. The study also found that holding more negative beliefs about emotions predicted lower levels of self-compassion in parents.
These findings highlight the importance of self-compassion in parents of young people with an eating disorder, and suggest that holding more negative beliefs about emotions may be a barrier to developing self-compassion. Interventions for parents of young people with eating disorders which focus on developing more adaptive beliefs about emotions and increasing self-compassion may help to decrease distress in parents, and enable them to grow their emotional reserves to continue supporting their child with their eating disorder recovery.
REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/PR/0145
Date of REC Opinion
28 Mar 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion