The Relationship Between Family Communication Patterns & Conflict Strategies in Relation to Eating Disorders

Eating disorders persist as one of the most prominent psychological and physiological illnesses among young adults and adolescents. Nonetheless, most research in the field focuses on external factors that influence the development of these disorders such as social media and an idolized body image; there is less research to investigate the role of an individual’s environment, more specifically the family dyad and the communication related to such eating disorders. The family unit remains, often, the primary means of socialization for individuals during developing years, thus, this study seeks to expand on how current family communication patterns contribute to eating disorders by focusing on specific family communication patterns and conflict strategies. This study will examine the relationship between family communication patterns and conflict strategies in the context of eating disorders/disordered eating behaviors utilizing a mixed-method study that entails interviewing and surveying participants in order to assess relationships between specific family communication patterns and conflict strategies as well as deep "heart-of-the matter" contextual interview data, to construct a deep understanding of how eating disorders are communicated in interactions and to construct themes that may be helpful in the eating disorder context.