Many theories of the etiology of eating disorders focus on the role of the family. However, these theories are based on clinical experience and uncontrolled clinical case series. We report a study comparing 50 bulimic women with 40 non-eating-disordered women all from the same clinical catchment area. This study revealed no significant differences in social class, family size, birth position, or sibling sex ratio between the two groups. However, the parents of bulimic women were found to have been significantly older than those of the control group at the time of birth of their daughter. These findings are discussed with reference to previous family studies of eating disorders.