ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Pediatric Endocrinology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1589745
The Impact of Type 2 Diabetes on Adolescent and Family Functioning and Healthcare Use: Findings from the National Survey of Children's Health
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Minnesota Health Sciences, University of Minnesota Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
- 2Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
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Introduction: Type 2 diabetes is a complex chronic illness requiring significant support. The goal of this study is to better understand stressors associated with type 2 diabetes for adolescents and caregivers and their impact on family functioning and health status.Methods: Using the National Survey of Children's Health, this study examined differences in adolescent mental health, family and caregiver functioning, and medical service usage in pediatric type 2 diabetes, asthma, special healthcare needs, and adolescents without chronic illness.Results: Adolescents and families with type 2 diabetes demonstrated higher mental health concerns, poorer parental coping and family resilience, and higher use of emergency care than one or more of the comparison groups. Emergency care needs were also higher than expected for type 2 diabetes. Discussion: Adolescents with type 2 diabetes and their caregivers reported significant stressors and functioning concerns as compared to adolescents with and without another chronic illness. These families also required more intensive care needs, highlighting the need to support adolescent and family psychosocial functioning in the context of type 2 diabetes.
Keywords: family functioning, Adolescent Health, type 2 diabetes, healthcare use, stress
Received: 07 Mar 2025; Accepted: 12 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Slesinger Roy, Bensignor, Grolnick and Scal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Noel C Slesinger Roy, University of Minnesota Health Sciences, University of Minnesota Medical Center, Minneapolis, 55455, Minnesota, United States
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