Maternal trait anxiety and diabetes control in adolescents with type 1 diabetes.
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.
Cameron
Linda D
LD
Department of Psychology, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. L.cameron@auckland.ac.nz
Young
Marie J
MJ
Wiebe
Deborah J
DJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000378:metabolism; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin