Eating Disorders and Mother-Daughter Communication: A Test of Inconsistent Nurturing as Control Theory

Abstract

A wide body of research offers compelling evidence for the risk factors associated with the onset of eating disorders, including psychological, biological, and cultural explanations. However, an aspect of disordered eating that has been relatively unexplored is the mechanism that perpetuates the disordered eating behaviors once they have begun. Inconsistent Nurturing as Control (INC) theory asserts that, due to competing goals of nurturing and controlling, mothers of daughters with eating disorders (or otherwise nonfunctioning individuals) will unintentionally encourage the very behaviors they are trying to extinguish through inconsistent manifestations of reinforcement and punishment (Le Poire, 1992, 1995). The current investigation uses the principles of INC theory to explain how familial relations, specifically, the mother-daughter relationship, may serve as a mechanism that potentially and inadvertently perpetuates the disordered eating. It is hypothesized that a mother's communication strategies for dealing with a daughter's eating disorder may be inconsistent in that she may reinforce the behavior initially, punish the behavior subsequently, and revert to a mix of reinforcement and punishment subsequent to being frustrated with her unsuccessful control attempts. The current findings indicate that mothers do reinforce the eating disorder less and punish the eating disorder more following the labeling of the eating disorder. In addition, consistency in punishing and reinforcing disordered eating behaviors impact recidivism and perceptions of persuasive effectiveness. The implications for mothers of daughters with eating disorders are considered.