Étude sur la résolution des tâches dé veloppementales chez les familles d'adolescents présentant une dysfonction alimentaire

Abstract

Following their first article which is a synthesis of the literature concerning family life cycle theory, the authors now present a study made with a clinical population of anorexic teenagers. The objective of the study is to identify, in families with an anorexic teenager (n = 9), the difficulties to cope with various developmental tasks by comparing them with a sample of families stemming from a comparative normal group (n = 11). The results show that anorexic families are more likely to be exposed to failures in their family developmental tasks. Also, the developmental difficulties increase in number, fol- lowing the family evolution in time. Finally, the developmental failures characterizing anorexic families can be grouped together around certain themes, which are the parental couple and children's autonomy and socialization.