The influence of parenting factors and child resilience on mental health in children with type 1 diabetes

The purpose of this study was to compare parent-reported measures of child resilience, child mental health, parent stress, and parenting self-efficacy between a group of parents of children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D) (ages of 6-12 years old) and a group of parents with typically-developing children without chronic illness (ages of 6-12 years old). The four hypotheses were as follows: 1) Parents of children diagnosed with T1D will have higher levels of stress than parents of children without T1D. 2) Children diagnosed with T1D will have higher levels of parent-reported child mental health issues than children without T1D. If hypothesis 1 is supported, then the influence of parent stress will be included in this analysis. 3) The relationship between a diagnosis of T1D and parent-reported child mental health issues is moderated by the child’s level of parent-reported psychological resilience. 4) The relationship between a diagnosis of T1D and parent-reported child mental health issues is moderated by the parent’s level of parenting self-efficacy. For hypotheses 1 and 2, it was found that parents of children with T1D reported significantly higher amounts of both parent stress and parent-reported child mental health issues than comparison group parents. However, once the effect of parent stress and parenting self-efficacy had been accounted for, there was no longer a significant difference in child mental health issues. For hypotheses 3 and 4, while the individual predictor of child group status (type 1 diabetic, comparison group) significantly affected the outcome variable, neither of the moderating variables of child resilience or parenting self-efficacy significantly influenced the relationship between child group status and amount of child mental health issues. In conclusion, the moderating variables of child resilience and parenting self-efficacy were found to not significantly affect the amount of child mental health issues differently based on whether the child had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes or had no chronic illness.