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Cited by 174Eating Disorders and BehaviorsNutrition, Health and Food BehaviorChild Nutrition and Feeding Issues

Development of a measure to assess invalidating childhood environments in the eating disorders

Mountford, Victoria, Corstorphine, Emma, Tomlinson, Sophie, Waller, Glenn·2007·Eating Behaviors
DOI 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2006.01.003
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Abstract

Objective The role of childhood abuse is well recognised within the eating disorders. However, the impact of parental invalidation of the child's emotional needs has not been investigated. Such invalidation is potentially important because it appears to be associated with the difficulties in tolerating distress that are often seen in adults with eating disorders. This study aims to develop a measure of childhood invalidating environments (Invalidating Childhood Environments Scale; ICES). It also investigated the relationship between childhood experiences, levels of distress tolerance and eating pathology.Method Seventy-three eating-disordered women and 62 non-eating-disordered women completed a newly developed measure of invalidating environments (ICES), the Eating Disorders Inventory, and a Distress Tolerance Scale.Results The ICES had acceptable psychometric and clinical validity. Women who scored highly on the ICES had greater levels of eating disturbance. Within the clinical sample, the data were compatible with a model where difficulties in tolerating distress partially mediate the relationship between perceived invalidation by the father and eating pathology.Conclusions Parental invalidation is a potentially important construct in the eating disorders. This paper demonstrates that the ICES is a valid measure of that construct. This study suggests a clear framework for working with patients, where evidence of an invalidating childhood environment indicates a need to work with patients on their capacity to tolerate distress.

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  • The finding that distress tolerance was not significantly associated with diagnoses of eating disorders (ED-B/P) or borderline personality disorder, nor frequency of disordered eating behaviours, is inconsistent with theory regarding the role of distress tolerance in these disorders.

    “In contrast, the finding that DT was not significantly associated with diagnoses of ED-B/P or BPD, nor frequency of DEB, is inconsistent with theory regarding the role of DT in these disorders, as well as previous studies demonstrating lower levels of DT in individuals with these disorders compared to healthy controls (Gratz et al., 2006;Mountford et al., 2007).”

    From Distress tolerance across substance use, eating, and borderline personality disorders: A meta-analysis (2022) · cites this paper as Mountford et al., 2007

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Authors
Mountford, V., Corstorphine, E., Tomlinson, S., & Waller, G.
Affiliations
  • University of London (GB)
  • South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust (GB)
Corresponding author
Mountford, Victoria
ORCID
Venue
Eating Behaviors
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2007-01
Volume
8
Issue
1
Pages
48-58
ISSN
1471-0153 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.eatbeh.2006.01.003
OpenAlex
W2035101625
Cited by
174
References
33
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 5
FWCI
23.22
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Eating Behaviors (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues
Keywords
eating disorders, distress tolerance, scale development, psychometric validation, father-child relationship, emotional needs, eating pathology, women
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Anorexia Nervosa, Feeding and Eating Disorders, Bulimia, Child, Child Abuse, Defense Mechanisms, Emotions, Father-Child Relations, Female, Humans, Mother-Child Relations, Personality Assessment, Personality Inventory, Psychometrics, Social Environment, Social Support, Statistics as Topic, Reproducibility of Results

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