Date of Award

8-1-2021

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Psychology

Program

Clinical Psychology

Content Description

1 online resource (v, 72 pages) : illustrations.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Betty Lin

Committee Members

Leslie F Halpern, Julia M Hormes

Keywords

Parenting, Pediatric, Temperament, Type 1 diabetes, Diabetic children, Diabetes in children, Parent and child, Parents of chronically ill children, Self-care, Health, Temperament in children

Subject Categories

Psychology

Abstract

Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) is a chronic autoimmune disease associated with increased risk for serious complications and premature mortality. T1DM treatment aims to maintain adequate glycemic control and involves a daily regimen of health behaviors (e.g., glucose monitoring, insulin administration, healthy diet). Among pediatric patients, both child self-regulation and quality of parental involvement have been found to influence treatment outcomes. However, it is unclear whether and how child and parental factors interact to shape glycemic control. The differential susceptibility hypothesis proposes that children with certain regulatory vulnerabilities (e.g., high negative affectivity [NA], low effortful control [EC]) may be more susceptible to the deleterious impact of inadequate parenting but also reap greater benefit from positive parenting. The present study investigated whether child temperament would moderate the impact of diabetes-specific parental assistance and support on glycemic control in pediatric T1DM patients. A sample of 101 children with T1DM (M age = 12.02, SD = 2.43) and their parents completed self-report questionnaires; information about glycemic control was abstracted from medical records. Multiple regression analyses indicated that child NA and EC significantly interacted with parental assistance, but not support. Specifically, high parental assistance appeared detrimental for maintaining good glycemic control for children with high NA or EC. High assistance only appeared to promote glycemic control for children with low NA. Overall, findings demonstrated that the quantity of direct parental involvement should align with children’s temperamental reactivity and regulation to benefit the treatment outcomes.

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