Children with recently diagnosed diabetes: interactions within their families.

Cross-sectional findings drawn from the first year of a 4-year longitudinal study of preadolescent and early adolescent insulin-dependent diabetics and their families are presented. Using direct observation techniques and a specially designed coding system, the family interactions of 56 families with a recently diagnosed diabetic child are compared with those of 49 families with a child of similar age and sex, who has had a recent, serious acute illness. The two samples are contrasted in terms of each family member's (mother, father, and child) enabling and constraining interactions, controlling for social class differences. The findings reveal that the diabetic children and their parents expressed significantly more enabling (e.g., focusing, problem solving, active understanding) speeches than comparable members of the acute illness group. In addition, there are indications of particular constraining interactions (devaluing) occurring between fathers and diabetic children. Several alternative interpretations are offered to account for these results, together with plans for future research directions to investigate these hypothesized explanations.