The family background in anorexia nervosa: a population-based study.

A group of 51 cases with anorexia nervosa (including a total population of cases from one birth cohort) was compared with a sex-, age- and school-matched group of 51 cases on various measures of family demography and interactions. There was no support for the notion of a "typical anorexia nervosa family." However, there were more major problems in the anorexia group and there was also a higher prevalence of dead first-degree relatives and depression in the mothers.