FAMILY-RELATIONS AND PSYCHOSOCIAL RISK IN FAMILIES WITH AN OBESE ADOLESCENT

The aim of the present study is a comparison of family relations in fa milies with an obese adolescent and families with a normal-weight adol escent. Particularly, we studied the parents' and children's perceptio ns of some crucial areas of their relationship, e.g., communication, s upport, and some factors of ''psychosocial risk'' for the adolescents. We compared 30 family triads each with an obese child and 30 family t riads each with a normal-weight child. We used a questionnaire aimed t o evaluate some crucial variables of family functioning such as commun ication, family climate, support and satisfaction. A multivariate anal ysis of variance yielded no difference between obese and nonobese adol escents concerning communication with their mothers and fathers and co ncerning support given and received from them. Ln particular, analysis indicated no difference between parents of obese adolescents and pare nts of normal-weight adolescents regarding openness and problems in co mmunication. As a protective factor against psychosocial risk, in both the samples the relationship with the mother arises as relevant, but, for the nonobese adolescents, both support and communication with thi s parent were important, whereas for the obese adolescents only suppor t seemed to be really important. The results are discussed with respec t to this approach which considered the family as the unit of analysis both from a theoretical and a methodological point of view.