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Presenter: Emily Sáez-Santiago, Ph.D., University of Puerto Rico
Discussant/Mentor: Janis Jenkins, Ph.D., University of California--San Diego

Parental expressed emotion, depressive syptomatology and glycemic control in Puerto Rican adolescents with type 1 diabetes

Author: Emily Sáez-Santiago

Background:
Diabetes is a chronic illness with high prevalence rate in Latinos. Puerto Rico has the highest incidence of Type 1 diabetes (T1D) in children and adolescents in Latinamerican. Diabetes is one of the most psychologically and behaviorally demanding chronic illness.  Type 1 diabetes in adolescents requires a treatment regimen that can bring many demanding challenges for both adolescents and their families. Parents play an important role in adolescent emotional adjustment and glycemic control. This study evaluated the the relationship among parental expressed emotion, depressive symptomotology and glycemic control in Puerto Rican adolescents with T1D.

Method:
The sample included 33 adolescents between the ages of 12 to 17 years old, who were recruited from diabetes clinics. The instruments used were the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and the Family Emotional Involvement and Criticism Scale (FEICS). The FEICS has two subscales: Emotional Involvement and Negative Criticism. Two versions of the scales were used: one related to maternal expressed emotion and other related to paternal expressed emotion. 

Results:
Results showed that both maternal and paternal negative criticism significantly correlated with depressive symptomatology.  Maternal and paternal negative criticism had a moderate and direct relationship with symptoms of depression (r=.38 and r=.41, respectively). Depressive symptoms had a significant and indirect relationship with paternal emotional involvement (r=-.48), but not with maternal involvement. Regression analyses showed that paternal emotional involvement was the variable with greater predictive value for depressive symptomatology.  Glycemic control did not correlate with parental expressed emotion and depressive symptomatology. 

Conclusions:
Results are consistent with other studies conducted with Puerto Rican adolescents which have found that family criticism are associated with depressive symptomatology, and family emotional involvement seems to be a protective factor against depressive symptomatology. This finding suggests that family interventions are essential for the prevention and treatment of depression in Puerto Rican adolescents with type 1 diabetes.