Personal control and disordered eating in female adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

Objective: The onset and subsequent management of diabetes can challenge one's sense of control. Sense of control can also be affected by the biological changes accompanying normal pubertal development. The negative impact on one's sense of control may be further exacerbated when both events (i.e., diabetes and puberty) occur in relatively close temporal proximity.

Research Design And Methods: This study examined the relationship between sense of control and disordered eating and glycemic control in 45 female adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

Results: A lower sense of overall control and a lower sense of bodily control were both directly related to more severe eating-disordered symptoms. However, a lower sense of overall control and lower bodily control were related to poorer metabolic control primarily when the diagnosis of diabetes occurred closer to the onset of puberty.

Conclusions: Clinicians should assess and monitor perceptions of control and also consider the temporal proximity of disease onset and onset of puberty when managing type 1 diabetes in female adolescents.