Genetic Explaination

I wanted to look more into the causes of anorexia in this post. There are so many psychological explanations that i am going to split them up between posts. I am a psychology student (A-level) and so i have access to alot of information on this subject. However, i am on the only course which doesnt cover eating disorders, which is annoying because i would probably ace that section! Ok so onto the genetic explanation!

Even though science has yet to be able to identify genes for specific behaviours, eating disorders can still be researched from this perspective by looking at families and whether a disorder runs in the family.

Reports in 1994 said that there was an increased risk of eating disorders if first degree biological relatives (parents, children, siblings) had been diagnosed with an eating disorder.  However, this may not be due to genetics as families often share the same environment and living conditions and experiences. Behaviour may also have been learned by other family members.

There have been studies on twins which provide much more reliable evidence. The research compares identical (where the twins are genetically the same) and non identical twins (where the twins are only as genetically similar as regular siblings). Environmental factors can therefore be largely ruled out if a significantly higher concordance (both twins having the same disorder) were to be found in identical twins than non identical. 2 psychologists; Holland et al. (1984) and Kendler et al. (1991) both claim to have found evidence of genetic bias in both anorexia and bulimia. 

I may go into these studies in detail in a later post, but right now im just going to write the conclusions and explanations. There was a higher concordance between identical twins than non identical in both the studies. In Holland's study about anorexia, there was a 55% concordance, however, this means that 45% were discordant (one had a disorder, the other didnt).


Some such as Hsu (1990) have suggested that the genetic element may not be to do with an eating disorder gene, but personality traits. Traits like perfectionism and emotional instability which make a person more susceptible to stress, which could then turn into an eating disorder (or another mental disorder). Apparently, in many cases of eating disorders, the family have a history of mood or personality disorders.


I think the idea of personality traits is true. I know that there are many of these which people with eating disorders share so this makes sense.  However, as far as i know there have been no eating disorders in my family and no depression or any mental illnesses (although it is quite possible there have and i just dont know, its not really one of those things you talk about i suppose). I think genetics definitely could be a factor.


In later posts i am going to go through the other theories by the different approaches and perspectives of psychology. Hopefully, by the time i have gone through them all, i (and you!) will have a better and broader understanding of these disorders.

Sophie x 

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