Background : Executive functions (EFs), particularly cognitive flexibility, are affected in eating disorders (EDs), and similar impairments have been shown in familial high-risk (FHR) children. However, the field lacks intergenerational assessments of EF allowing evaluation and comparison of these parent-child patterns of impairment in EDs. This preliminary study used comparable EF tasks in mothers with a history of EDs and FHR daughters to estimate mother-daughter associations, explore associations with maternal illness characteristics, and identify candidate EF domains for future research.

Method : Thirty-five mothers with a lifetime history of anorexia nervosa ( n = 11), bulimia nervosa ( n = 12), or binge eating disorder ( n = 12) and their FHR daughters (median age = 10, range = 7) completed three EF tasks. Exploratory correlation and regression analyses examined mother-daughter EF associations, and associations between maternal illness characteristics and daughters’ EF scores.

Results : Mother-daughter correlations were observed in cognitive flexibility ( r _s =0.39) and response inhibition ( r _s =0.41) tasks but did not survive multiple-comparison correction. Unadjusted analyses found that maternal cognitive flexibility significantly predicted daughter’s cognitive flexibility ( β = 0.36, p =.036, 95% CI [0.06, 1.57]). Maternal response inhibition significantly predicted daughter’s response inhibition ( β = 0.46, p =.002, 95% CI [0.28, 1.17]), and maternal ED recovery status predicted daughter response inhibition ( B = -8.02, p =.01, 95% CI [-13.97, -2.07]).

Conclusions : Our exploratory findings show patterns of mother-daughter EF congruence, as well as associations between maternal ED recovery status and daughter EF. These findings serve to generate hypotheses and guide larger longitudinal studies evaluating EF as a potential intergenerational trait marker associated with ED risk, highlighting cognitive flexibility and response inhibition as candidates for future research.