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. 2016 Mar;175(3):329-38.
doi: 10.1007/s00431-015-2631-4. Epub 2015 Oct 5.

The relationship between parenting stress and parent-child interaction with health outcomes in the youngest patients with type 1 diabetes (0-7 years)

Anke M Nieuwesteeg  1 , Esther E Hartman  2 , Henk-Jan Aanstoot  3 , Hedwig J A van Bakel  4 , Wilco H M Emons  5   6 , Edgar van Mil  7 , Frans Pouwer  8
Affiliations

The relationship between parenting stress and parent-child interaction with health outcomes in the youngest patients with type 1 diabetes (0-7 years)

Anke M Nieuwesteeg et al. Eur J Pediatr. 2016 Mar.

Abstract

To test whether parenting stress and the quality of parent-child interaction were associated with glycemic control and quality of life (QoL) in young children (0-7 years) with type 1 diabetes (T1DM), we videotaped 77 families with a young child with T1DM during mealtime (including glucose monitoring and insulin administration). Parent-child interactions were scored with a specifically designed instrument. Questionnaires assessed general and disease-related parenting stress and (diabetes-specific (DS)) QoL. HbA(1c) (glycemic control) was extracted from the medical records. Both general and disease-related parenting stress were associated with a lower (DS)QoL (r ranged from -0.39 to -0.70, p < 0.05), but not with HbA(1c) levels. Furthermore, with regard to the parent-child interaction, emotional involvement of parents (r = 0.23, p < 0.05) and expressed discomfort of the child (r = 0.23, p < 0.05) were related to suboptimal HbA(1c) levels. There was no clear pattern in the correlations between parent-child interaction and (DS)QoL.

Conclusion: The results support the notion that diabetes does not only affect the child with T1DM: T1DM is a family disease, as parenting factors (like stress and parent-child interactions) are associated with important child outcomes. Therefore, it is important for health-care providers to not only focus on the child with T1DM, but also on the family system.

Keywords: Behavior; Children; Parents; Parent–child interaction; Type 1 diabetes mellitus.

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