Parental intrusiveness in adolescence recalled by women with a history of bulimia nervosa and comparison women.

OBJECTIVE: To learn if women with a lifetime history of bulimia nervosa (BN) report more intrusive parental behavior during adolescence than their nonclinical peers, and to provide further validation of the Parental Intrusiveness Rating Scale (PIRS).

METHOD: We administered the PIRS to 86 women with a lifetime history of BN and 573 comparison subjects and examined between-group differences.

RESULTS: Relative to the comparison group, lifetime BN subjects reported higher levels of parental intrusiveness, specifically maternal invasion of privacy, maternal jealousy and competition, paternal seductiveness, and maternal and paternal overconcern with the daughter's eating, weight, and shape. There were no between-group differences in paternal invasion of privacy. In exploratory analyses with the comparison sample, Caucasian women reported greater maternal jealousy and competition than Asian American/Pacific Islander women, but there were no other differences.

CONCLUSION: These results support clinical observations of high levels of parental intrusiveness in the adolescent experiences of women who develop BN. Nonclinical women of diverse ethnic backgrounds report largely equivalent experiences.