Stress influences all aspects of health status and behavioral adaption. However, although emotional stress and psychosocial factors have all been thought to be influential in the course and onset of insulin-dependent diabetes, there has been little systematic study of the syndrome in terms of biomedical and psychosocial interactions. This project sought to broaden the understanding of the interplay of biomedical and psychosocial factors by (1) developing a conceptual model for clinical care and research studies involving stress-related processes in physical illness and (2) systematically examining biomedical and interactions in the context of a camp for diabetic children. One set of findings involved degree of diabetic control (as measured by glucose levels in the urine) and knowledge of diabetes; results indicated that acquisition of high levels of knowledge of diabetes may reflect a coping effort in response to the stress of poor diabetic control. Regarding the relationship between diabetic control and degree of feeling in control over one's life events, sex differences were found and interpreted as reflecting potential differences between the sexes in their responses to stress which were actualized by the stress of poor diabetic control.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter