The relationship between coping strategies of mothers and their children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

Past research (Ainsworth, 1979; Murphy & Moriarity, 1964) has demonstrated a strong positive relationship between coping strategies used by mothers and children six years old and younger. These studies were all conducted with third party observers scoring the items or using responses from caretakers. The purpose of this study was to determine if these findings continue to be supported when the child is added to the responding participants an are between 8 and 12 years old. Many of the earlier studies did not identify which parents were included. This study only looks at maternal caretakers. Two hundred mother-child dyads who had a child with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) were surveyed using the Adolescent-Coping Orientation for Problem Experiences (A-COPE) (Patterson and McCubbin, 1987) and the Coping Health Inventory for Parents (CHIP) (McCubbin, McCubbin, Nevin, & Cauble, 1983) to determined what shared, if any, coping strategies each dyad member used. Eight of these dyads were later interviewed for confirmation of instrument findings. The factor structure of the original scales did not have the reliabilities originally reported. A secondary factor analysis was done with newly created subscales which obtained more parsimonious fit with the total. It was established that the A-COPE was as valid for school-agers as for adolescents. Specific correlational findings indicated some differences between mother and child, but in general there were no correlational findings between the subscales on the A-COPE and CHIP forms. Combining redundant coping behaviors on the two scales, 99 behaviors were identified, although not all were used. Through the interviews, another 13 behaviors were identified. The open-ended interviews were a critical part of this study. They added validation and explanation to responses from the paper and pencil questionnaires. The findings of this study differed from those of earlier studies where mothers and younger children typically cope similarly. More family based research is needed to study coping by family members in other chronic diseases of childhood as well as IDDM