Objective: Mothers of youth with type 1 diabetes experience increased levels of stress and depression related to the burden of diabetes management, but the concept of diabetes distress, or distress linked specifically to diabetes and its management, has not been applied to mothers. The current study examined diabetes distress in relation to maternal depressive symptoms and adolescents' glycemic control.
Research design and methods: Mothers of youth with type 1 diabetes (age: 10-16) completed a measure of depressive symptoms and diabetes distress as part of a screening questionnaire. Adolescents' glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was obtained from medical records.
Results: Mothers' diabetes distress was strongly related to maternal depressive symptoms, and relationship-related diabetes distress was significantly associated with adolescents' HbA1c. In multivariate analyses, maternal depression was the only significant predictor of glycemic control.
Conclusions: Given the links between mothers' diabetes distress, maternal depressive symptoms, and adolescents' glycemic control, diabetes distress may be important to consider when targeting both maternal and adolescent adjustment to type 1 diabetes.
Keywords: adolescents; diabetes distress; family functioning; parenting; type 1 diabetes.
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.