Abstract
Adolescents with T1D are at risk for poor adjustment, including both physiological (i.e., poor metabolic control) and psychological outcomes (e.g., depressive and anxious symptoms, poor quality of life). Psychosocial functioning has been shown to impact metabolic control both directly and indirectly through treatment adherence. In addition, family functioning and coping have been posited as possible mediators of the stress of diabetes, as reflected in Thompson & Gustafson's (1996) Transactional Stress and Coping Model. However, there is a lack of research regarding which specific coping strategies and communication styles used by adolescents with T1D and their mothers are related to better adjustment. A better understanding of the mechanisms through which maternal and child adaptational processes (e.g., methods of coping, perceived stress/control, and family functioning) affect physical and psychosocial adjustment in adolescents with T1D will provide a framework for future preventive interventions to target these mechanisms directly.
The purpose of the proposed application is to complete a pilot study to begin to examine the risk and protective factors for adolescent adjustment to T1D, focusing on coping and communication styles as potential mediators of the stress of the illness and treatment regimen. The proposed study is innovative, in that it would collect observational data of adolescents and their mothers in a discussion of stress related to T1D. Because T1D is a chronic illness that requires continuous supervision by parents, as well as ongoing communication between parents and children around treatment management, it becomes particularly important to understand specific communication and parenting styles that promote this collaboration. In addition, the proposed study would use parent and child measures of coping and psychosocial adjustment, as well as clinical data (e.g., Glycosylated Hemoglobin). It is anticipated that results from this study will provide preliminary data to be used in applications for a full-scale, longitudinal study (i.e., R award), and will ultimately inform family-based preventive interventions for adolescents with T1D and their parents.
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Principal Investigators
Sarah Jaser
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