The Impact of Coping Styles on the Control of Juvenile Diabetes

Abstract

The relevance of psychosocial factors to the control of diabetes has been referred to in the literature, and previous studies have shown a particular relationship between family behavior and degree of control. This study of twenty-one children from the U.S.C. Pediatric Diabetes Clinic was undertaken to evaluate the extent to which specific variables correlate with control of diabetes. Statistically, no correlation was found between degree of control and: age of onset, duration of illness, number of siblings, intactness of family, degree of family psychopathology, intelligence of child and parents, knowledge about diabetes, birth rank or ethnic and social class. Positive correlation existed between family history of diabetes and good control. Children who appeared to be in the midst of an “adolescent growth spurt” clustered in the group with fair or poor control. Clinical observations of individual patients and their families suggest that the reactions to the onset of diabetes did influence the styles of coping with fears, anxieties and guilt. Case examples are given. The relation of psychologic and neurophysiologic mechanisms is discussed.