Expressed emotion and long-term outcome among adolescents with anorexia nervosa.

Objective: The purpose of the current study is to examine expressed emotion (EE) and long-term treatment outcome among adolescents participating in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) for treatment of anorexia nervosa (AN). It was hypothesized that patients with high EE parents at baseline would show more severe symptoms at end-of-treatment, 12-month follow-up, and 4-year follow-up than patients from low EE families.

Method: Secondary data analysis was conducted of original RCT data from a two-site eating disorder treatment trial conducted in the United States. Participants were 121 adolescents with AN who completed measures of EE, eating disorder psychopathology, depression, and self-esteem.

Results: Generalized estimating equations showed that participants who were in the Low EE group achieved a more accelerated drop in depression scores in the context of treatment (first 12 months) than participants in the High EE group. No other significant Group × Time interactions were found.

Discussion: Findings suggest that high parental EE at baseline does not indicate that adolescent patients with AN will fare poorly 4 years later.