Self-esteem and Depression in Adolescent Diabetic Girls

Abstract

This investigation was designed to examine self-esteem and depression in diabetic adolescent girls. One hundred nondiabetic girls age 12-16 and 105 diabetic girls age 12-16 were administered the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory. Results indicated no significant difference between diabetic and nondiabetic girls in self-esteem scores. Diabetic girls showed significantly more depression than nondiabetic girls. Close examination of results revealed that, in fact, diabetic and nondiabetic adolescent girls were very similar. A major finding was that depression in the diabetic group was expressed primarily through physiologic symptoms of depression as seen in the vital depression scores, rather than through the pessimism, indecision-inhibition, or self-debasement measures of depression. Results were interpreted to mean that diabetic girls did not manifest deeper depression than nondiabetic girls but, rather, a greater awareness of their physiologic status. Diabetes emerged as a focus for the expression of normal adolescent conflicts. The importance of integrating developmental issues into the treatment plans for diabetic patients is emphasized.

Eating and emotional disorders in adolescent obese girls with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

“…Conversely, the self-esteem of non-obese IDDM seemed to be quite as good as that of normal girls, and obese IDDM girls had better self-esteem scores than did non-IDDM obese girls. These results confirm that IDDM, unlike obesity (Krasnerger et al, 1988), need not lead to a lower self-esteem (Sullivan, 1978;Kovacs et al, 1990). The difference should not be linked to greater obesity in non-diabetic girls, that is responsible for more social problems, since the excess weight of the two groups did not differ significantly.…”

“…Some studies have found that obese subjects have a bad self-esteem and more emotional disorders (IsnardMugnier et al, 1993). Other studies have found that emotional disorders are more common in adolescent IDDM girls (Sullivan, 1978;Simonds et al, 1981;Close et al, 1986;Kovacs et al, 1990), but they assessed anxious and depressive dimensions and did not diagnose DSM-III-R anxiety disorders or depression. Hence, we evaluated self-esteem and emotional disorders in the populations of IDDM and non-diabetic, obese and non obese, adolescent girls.…”

“…An above-normal frequency of eating disorders was also found in young IDDM women (Hudson et al, 1985;Rosmark et al, 1986;Nielsen et al, 1987;Popkin et al, 1988;Stancin et al, 1989;Steel et al, 1987;Robertson & Rosenvinge, 1990). Emotional disorders have been reported in IDDM girls (Sullivan, 1978;Simonds et al, 1981;Close et al, 1986;Kovacs et al, 1990), but no study has yet assessed DSM-III-R anxiety disorders. DSM-III simple phobias were found more frequently in IDDM women aged 16-55 years (Popkin et al, 1988), but not specifically in adolescent girls.…”

Eating Disorders and IDDM: A problematic association

“…Although some studies (12) suggest that self-esteem is not more impaired and depressive symptoms are not more common in adolescent girls with IDDM, other research suggests that subtle disturbances may be present. For example, Hauser et al (13) found that ego development and self-image complexity are impaired in adolescents with IDDM compared with similar nondiabetic individuals.…”

A transformed pregnancy: the psychosocial consequences of gestational diabetes

“…The sources of depression have included fear of diabetic complications, anxiety about an early death, and frustration of possible future deterioration (Hauser and PoUets 1979;Koch and Molar 1974;Sullivan 1978). Menninger (1935) suggested that a diabetic personality characterised diabetic patients.…”