Parents’ Empathic Accuracy in the Context of Managing Type 1 Diabetes: Associations with Adolescents’ Physical and Mental Health

• In Event: Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is among the most common chronic childhood illnesses whose prevalence is increasing worldwide (Lipman et al., 2013). Adolescence is a developmental period when adherence to T1D regimens and glycemic control often deteriorate, increasing the risk for long-term microvascular complications (Weissberg-Benchell et al., 1995). Parents’ tendency to empathize with their children is associated with better health outcomes for children and adolescents with chronic illness (Vervoort et al., 2006). However, no studies to our knowledge have examined in-the-moment empathic accuracy and its associations with physical health and mental health. Using a video assisted recall task, the present study tested whether parents’ accurate perceptions of adolescents’ positive and negative emotions (i.e., empathic accuracy) during a conflict discussion was associated with physical and mental health (glycemic control, diabetes self-management, and depressive symptoms) in a diverse sample of adolescents with T1D. We hypothesized that higher parental empathic accuracy for adolescents’ positive rand negative emotions would be associated with lower (better) HbA1c, higher diabetes self-management, and fewer depressive symptoms.

Participants included 84 adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (81% Latinx, 54% female, Mage = 12.74 years (SD = 1.74) and their parents (85% mothers) who participated in a multisite study of family communication about T1D during adolescence. Parents and adolescents engaged in a discussion about a conflict topic (N = 72 completed conflict discussion task) related to the adolescent’s diabetes management (e.g., forgetting to check insulin levels). Following the discussion, adolescents and parents separately reviewed the videotaped discussion and rated their own and the other person’s perceived positive and negative emotions once every minute. For the purpose of this study, only parents’ ratings are included in the analyses. Parents and adolescents reported on adolescents’ diabetes self-management , and adolescents reported on their depressive symptoms using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977). Metabolic control (HbA1c) was collected from adolescents’ medical records. Empathic accuracy was computed as average difference scores between the adolescent’s ratings of their own emotions and the parent’s ratings of the adolescent’s emotions. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to determine whether parents’ empathic accuracy for positive and negative emotions had unique effects on adolescent physical and mental health. Adolescents’ gender and age, family socioeconomic status, and study site were included in the model as covariates (see Figure 1).

Descriptive statistics and correlations among study variables are shown in Table 1. The hypothesized structural equation model fit the data well (χ2 (8) = 12.38, p = .13; CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = .08; SRMR = .04). Findings showed that parents’ empathic accuracy for adolescents’ negative, but not positive emotions, was significantly associated with better adolescent physical and mental health (lower HbA1c, higher self-management, and fewer depressive symptoms; see Figure 1).

Findings suggest that parents’ tendency to accurately empathize with adolescents’ negative emotions has important implications for adolescent physical and mental health within the context of managing chronic illness. Implications for using dynamic and ecologically valid measures of empathy in parent-adolescent interactions will be discussed.

Authors

• Carmen Kho, North Dakota State University
  Presenting Author

• Alexandra Main, University of California, Merced
  Non-Presenting Author

• Deborah Wiebe, University of California, Merced
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jennifer Raymond, Children's Hospital Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author