Psychological well-being, distress and family functioning in young adults with type 1 diabetes: a controlled study

Introduction: In the past decades, Type 1 diabetes has been associated with an increased prevalence of psychological distress (Hislop et al. 2008). However, little is known on psychological well-being and family functioning in this population. The aim of this study was to evaluate differences in psychological well-being, distress and family functioning between patients with Type 1 diabetes and healthy controls. Methods: 31 patients with Type 1 diabetes and 31 matched healthy controls were evaluated using the following instruments: Ryff’s Psychological well-being Scales (PWB), Kellner’s Symptom Questionnaire (SQ) and the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD). Student’s t was used to analyze socio-demographic and clinical differences between patients and controls. Results: Patients suffering from Type 1 diabetes and controls did not differ in any socio-demographic variables. As expected, patients presented greater distress in terms of SQ somatic symptoms (p<0.01) and SQ hostility (p=0.05) than controls. As for psychological well-being, diabetic patients showed lower PWB environmental mastery (p=0.029) than healthy individuals. On the contrary, individuals with Type 1 diabetes presented better family functioning than controls, scoring lower in FAD roles (p<0.01), FAD affective responsiveness (p=0.001) and FAD behavioral control (p=0.001). Discussion/Conclusions: In line with previous reports, young adults with diabetes reported impaired psychological functioning in terms of both greater distress and lower psychological well-being. Surprisingly, patients also reported better family functioning compared to healthy controls. Future studies may evaluate if family functioning in patients with chronic disease such as diabetes may also engage in greater flexibility in dealing with adverse events such as a physical chronic disease.