Parent-Child Relationship Quality as a Mediator of the Association between Perceived Stress and Diabetes Self-Management in Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes.

Abstract

Diabetes self-management is suboptimal in adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D), including those in China. The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of parent-child relationship quality on diabetes self-management. Data were collected by a self-report survey among 122 Chinese adolescents from April to July 2017. The data were analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance, descriptive analyses, correlation analyses, and mediation analyses. The mean age was 13.8 (range, 10-18) years, and the mean diabetes duration was 4.1 (±3.1) years. About half of the adolescents with T1D experienced high levels of perceived stress. Parent-child relationship quality mediated the associations between perceived stress and collaboration with parents, diabetes care activities, and diabetes communication on aspects of diabetes self-management (ps < 0.05). To reduce the negative impacts of perceived stress on diabetes self-management in this population, parent-child relationship quality should be considered an important element of family-based interventions and clinical practice.