Objectives: To evaluate coping styles and quality of life in youth with Type 1 diabetes with and without eating disorders and to identify relationships between these variables in each group.
Methods: Adolescents were evaluated for eating disorders with a two-stage diagnostic procedure. Adolescents with and without eating disorders then provided data on coping styles and on subjective well-being.
Results: Adolescents with Type 1 diabetes and disordered eating behavior reported more often blaming themselves and resorting to wishful thinking and poorer physical and psychosocial quality of life than do adolescents with Type 1 diabetes without disordered eating behavior. Specific coping strategies were also positively linked with quality of life and metabolic control.
Conclusions: Eating disorders and disordered eating behavior in adolescents with Type 1 diabetes seem to be associated with certain negative and avoidant coping strategies and with impeded physical and bio-psychosocial well-being.