Health-related quality of life and metabolic control in adolescents with diabetes: the role of parental care, control, and involvement.

This questionnaire-based study explored the role of parenting in health-related quality of life in a population of 115 adolescents with type 1 diabetes (aged 11-18 years, 48% girls). Healthy adolescents (n = 9,345) and physically disabled adolescents (n = 291) were included as controls. The adolescents with diabetes reported their parents as being more controlling and involved than did adolescents in the 2 other groups. In multiple regression analyses, age, gender, and a higher degree of parental care and involvement explained 46% of the variation in mental health. Age, gender, a higher degree of parental care and involvement, and a lower perception of parental control explained 52% of the variation in diabetes life-satisfaction. Neither glycosylated hemoglobin nor the other clinical variables studied were significantly related to the perception of health-related quality of life. Family support should be provided to facilitate coping with everyday management and demands of diabetes.