Attitudes towards ‘sickness’, ‘arguments’, ‘tension’, ‘social isolation’, ‘thinness’, ‘growing up’ and ‘grown up’ were investigated in 20 young female anorexia nervosa patients and their mothers, and in 32 volunteer non‐patient schoolgirls and their mothers. A computer‐generated semantic differential questionnaire was completed by each daughter and her mother, first for herself and then as she thought the other person would have answered it. The majority of significant differences occurred between the anorexic daughters and their mothers as a group, and the non‐patient daughters and mothers as a group. The anorexia nervosa group rated ‘sickness’, ‘arguments' and ‘tension’ more favourably than did the non‐patients, while the patients rated ‘thinness' and ‘social isolation’ less favourably than did the non‐patient group. Neither group of mo