Clinical and school maladjustment and emotional symptoms in diabetic and non-diabetic children and adolescents

Abstract

When diabetes mellitus 1 appears in childhood and adolescence can involve substantial and significant differences in maladaptive skills (depression, anxiety and stress, mainly) compared to the population that does not have this disease. In compliance with this information, the following research analyzes such differences between a group of children and adolescents with diabetes and a control group that did not suffer from any chronic disease. A total of 88 families with children between the ages of 10 and 18 years old participated in the study, of which 42 suffer from diabetes and the other 46 do not suffer from diabetes. The instrument selected for measuring Clinic Maladjustment (dimensions made up of Anxiety, Atipicality, Locus of Control and Somatization –just in S3–); School Maladjustment (Negative Attitude to School, Negative Attitude to Teachers and Sensation Seeking) and others Emotional Symptoms (dimensions made up of Anxiety, Interpersonal Relations, Self-Esteem, Social Stress, Depression and Self-Reliance) was the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC). The different sample analyses conclude that diabetic children tend to score higher in all these global dimensions, although the differences found between both groups are just significant in School Maladjustment and Emotional Symptoms in children and in Clinical Maladjustment in adolescents. These scores suggest that, as numerous studies from this field have been showing, the appearance of this illness causes a disturbance of mood and emotional states in children and adolescents with diabetes. This fact demonstrates the importance of developing guidelines that promote adaptive habits that emphasize the independence in diabetic children and adolescents to help them gain self-confidence to improve these skills.