Family Environment Scale Parental Ratings of Conflict among Latino Families of Depressed Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes

Abstract

Objective: Family conflict is related to depression, difficulties with treatment adherence and glycemic control, in adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D). We examined the psychometric properties of a parent-rated family conflict measure and the most frequent behaviors endorsed by caregivers of these youths. Methods: Participants were 51 caregivers (86.27% women) of adolescents (aged 12-17) with T1D, recruited during a psychotherapy study for youth depression. Both (caregivers and youths) completed questionnaires during the eligibility evaluation. Caregivers completed the Conflict subscale of the Family Environment Scale, considering to what extent its items described their whole family or its majority. Results: The most frequent indicators of conflict where becoming upset, displaying anger openly, believing that something can be achieved by speaking loudly, and criticizing and fighting, although not physically. Internal consistency for the subscale when rating conflict indicators in a dichotomous format was .69 and .76 when rated in an ordinal format. Conflict scores correlated moderately and significantly (p ≤ .05) with other measures completed by youths and caregivers. Caregivers of youths with the worst glycemic control reported the highest levels of conflict. The subscale also showed a satisfactory sensitivity to change by reflecting a significant reduction in caregivers’ reports of family conflict after adolescent group treatment. Conclusion: Our results confirm the frequent occurrence of conflict (especially verbal conflict) in these families and document the psychometric properties of a measure for its assessment, which may be useful in studies that examine the impact of family conflict in both youth depression and diabetes.