Hope More, Worry Less: Hope as a Potential Resilience Factor in Mothers of Very Young Children With Type 1 Diabetes

Abstract

Little research has explored potential resilience factors in parenting a child with a chronic illness—or factors that help protect against the experience of psychological distress. This study explored the relation between hope (a resilience factor) and anxiety (a distress factor) in mothers of very young children with type 1 diabetes. Seventy-five mothers of children aged 2 through 5 years diagnosed with type 1 diabetes completed a self-report assessment battery, including well-standardized measures of hope and anxiety. As expected, analyses indicated an inverse relation between mothers' hope and anxiety. In addition, after controlling for significant medical and demographic covariates, hope remained a negative contributor to maternal anxiety (p < .001). This suggests that having an individual disposition that includes high hope may serve as a protective factor against psychological distress in mothers of very young children with diabetes. Examining levels of hope in this population may identify parents least and most at risk for distress, facilitating the provision of targeted and tailored intervention.