Complex psychiatric disorders develop from interactions between genetic and environmental factors. Offspring of women with a history of an eating disorder (ED) are a high risk group due to a combination of both genetic vulnerability and rearing/environmental factors.

The aim of this study is to examine the clinical features and also the experiences of mother-daughter dyads where both mother and daughter have had an eating disorder in order to explore factors that may impact on risk for and outcome in eating disorders.

Mother-daughter ED dyads participated in a study that used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

the quantitative assessment found marked differences distinguishing ED mothers from control mothers (with no ED history), particularly in areas such as caregiving, eating attitudes and personality traits. The qualitative assessment identified an important phenomenological interaction between the mothers’ and daughters’ experiences of an eating disorder.

These results shed light on the significant role and impact of a mother's eating disorder when her offspring develops the same illness. The study's findings highlight the need to take these possible transmission factors and the impact of maternal ED into account in clinical practice.