Women's psychosocial adjustment to diabetes

Successful adjustment to a chronic illness such as diabetes mellitus is inf luenced by a variety of psychosocial factors. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which social support, personal resources, coping styles, and psychosocial adjustment to illness differ among women with diab etes living in different types of household structure and to explore the in fluence of social support, personal resources, coping styles, and household structure on the psychosocial adjustment of women with diabetes. Data were collected in 1995. The convenience sample included 115 diabetic women with an average age of 48 years. Mean length of time from diagnosis was 10 year s. Instruments included a demographic data form, a measure of social suppor t, a personal resource scale, the Jalowiec Coping Scale, the Psychosocial A djustment to Illness Scale-Self-Report, and a self-report item for assessin g household structure. Multiple analysis of variance showed that women in v arious types of households differed in personal resources and coping. Highe r levels of social support and more adequate personal resources were associ ated with more effective coping and better psychosocial adjustment. The eff ective use of confrontive, optimistic, supportant and self-reliant coping w as associated with better psychosocial adjustment, while evasive and emotiv e coping styles were associated with more adjustment problems. Multiple reg ression showed that 47% of the variance in adjustment was explained by pers onal resources and social support. Findings indicated that women in various types of households differed in the adequacy of their resources and in the ways that they cope with diabetes. Findings further indicated that greater social support, more adequate personal resources, and more effective copin g are associated with better adjustment.