Self-reported and performance based perfectionism in mothers of individuals with Anorexia Nervosa: a pilot study.

Background: Perfectionism is implicated in the development and maintenance of Anorexia Nervosa and there is some evidence that perfectionism may be elevated in family members. However to date there are no studies investigating behavioural aspects of perfectionism in unaffected mothers.

Methods: Forty-one participants took part in this pilot study: 21 unaffected mothers of individuals with Anorexia Nervosa and 20 healthy control mothers. Participants completed two performance based tasks assessing perfectionism-a text replication task and a bead sorting task-along with self-report measures of perfectionism.

Results: No group differences were found between unaffected AN mothers and HC mothers on performance measures of perfectionism.

Discussion: The findings are discussed in relation to existing studies and clinical implications explored.