By age ten, statistics show that 80% of American girls are dieting and 60% have a fear of gaining weight.

Debra Waterhouse seeks to understand the source of the rampant self-destructive attitudes that females in our society have about their bodies and about food.

Like Mother, Like Daughter reveals that these negative attitudes may be transmitted from generation to generation as mothers - consciously or unconsciously - convey to their daughters their unhealthy eating habits and obsessions with dieting.

It also tells us how women can detect their mother's influence, how they can break out of this destructive cycle, and how they can pass on to their own children healthier behaviors and attitudes.