Objective: Mothers of children at risk for type 1 diabetes report engaging in preventive behaviors. The purpose of this study is to further document these actions in an international, longitudinal sample and examine variables that predict whether mothers engage in these behaviors.
Research design and methods: This study examined an international sample (from Finland, Germany, Sweden, and the U.S.) from the naturalistic, longitudinal The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) study, which tracked children genetically at risk for type 1 diabetes from birth to age 15 years. Mothers of 7,613 infants aged 6 months and 6,503 infants aged 15 months completed questionnaires assessing psychosocial factors and actions intended to prevent diabetes.
Results: Many mothers (29.9% at 6 months and 42.8% at 15 months) reported engaging in a behavior intended to prevent type 1 diabetes, with the largest percentages (20.9-29.2%) reporting making changes to their child's diet (e.g., reducing the consumption of sweets and carbohydrates). Factors related to engaging in preventive behaviors include older maternal age; higher maternal education; minority status; having only one child; having a first-degree relative with type 1 diabetes; being from a country other than Sweden; having an accurate perception of the child's increased risk for developing diabetes; having postpartum depression, maternal anxiety, and worry about the risk of diabetes; and believing that diabetes can be prevented.
Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that many mothers engage in actions to prevent diabetes and highlight the importance of tracking these behaviors to ensure the validity of naturalistic observational studies.