Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access originally published online on January 29, 2007
Journal of Pediatric Psychology 2007 32(7):733-744; doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsl053
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Maternal Trait Anxiety and Diabetes Control in Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes
1The University of Auckland and 2University of Utah
All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Linda D. Cameron, PHD, Department of Psychology (Tamaki Campus), The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand. E-mail: L.cameron{at}auckland.ac.nz.
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Objective To examine the relationship of maternal trait anxiety with diabetes regulation among adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Methods Adolescents and their mothers completed surveys assessing trait anxiety, maternal involvement in diabetes care, adolescent management skills, autonomous motivations, mood state, and absenteeism due to diabetes. HbA1c readings, used to assess metabolic control, were obtained from medical records. Results Trait-anxious mothers reported taking more responsibility for diabetes management tasks and perceived their adolescents as having poorer management skills. Adolescents with high-anxious mothers reported stronger beliefs that their mothers had high control over their diabetes and their parents were over-protective. For younger adolescents, maternal trait anxiety was associated with higher HbA1c levels and greater absenteeism. For older adolescents, maternal trait anxiety was associated with lower autonomous motivations for diabetes care and lower positive affect. Conclusions Interventions for adolescents with diabetes may benefit from addressing these maternal anxiety dynamics in ways that improve diabetes control.
Key words: adolescence; anxiety; diabetes; metabolic control; self-regulation..
Received November 17, 2005; revision received May 15, 2006; revision received September 14, 2006; accepted December 13, 2006