Correlates and moderators of stress related to parenting a child with type I diabetes

Due to the chronicity of diabetes and complicated time-consuming medical management of the illness, parents who care for children with diabetes can often become stressed by different aspects of care. Little research has examined the stress felt by parents who care for children with diabetes and furthermore possible moderators of stress relationships. Parents of 248 children with type I diabetes completed measures of pediatric parenting stress, hypoglycemia fear, responsibility for diabetes care, child behavioral functioning, family environment, and diabetes self-efficacy. Results suggest that hypoglycemia fear and child behavioral problems are significantly associated with all measured domains of pediatric parenting stress. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that self-efficacy and marital status acted as moderators in several associations with parenting stress. In conclusion, this study identified several variables that put parents at risk for experiencing high levels of stress and identified two important variables that help alleviate parenting stress.