Stress Among Fathers of Young Children With Type 1 Diabetes

Although fathers' stress has been shown to have important implications for children's health and well-being, few studies of children with Type 1 diabetes have considered paternal parenting stress. The current study contributes to the literature by exploring correlates of fathers' pediatric parenting stress in a sample of young children with Type I diabetes. Forty-three fathers of children 2-6 years old with Type I diabetes completed self-report questionnaires examining pediatric parenting stress, child behavior, participation in diabetes management tasks, and parental psychological resources. Results of multiple regression show that fathers' pediatric parenting stress is positively associated with state anxiety and mother-reported difficult child behavior. These findings suggest that fathers may experience parenting stress differently than mothers, and that their experiences may have implications not only for their own level of anxiety, but also for their children's behavior.