A Comparison of Aggression and Self-injury Among Type 1 Diabetic and Healthy Adolescents: A Sample From Turkey

Adolescents tend to have risky behaviors like aggression and self-injury due to the age period characteristics. The risk of aggression and self-injury may increase in adolescents with the addition of chronic diseases.

This study was conducted descriptively to determine and compare the aggression and self-injury in those with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and healthy counterparts.

The study sample consisted of 60 adolescents with T1DM followed up in the child endocrinology polyclinic of a university hospital and 319 healthy counterparts, 15-18 aged, at 9th-12th grade at high school. In the study, the permission of the institution, Ethical Committee, the parent and adolescent consent, the data were collected using a questionnaire form, Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) and Inventory of Statements About Self-injury (ISAS). The descriptive statistics, Shapiro-Wilk, Mann-Whitney U, Student t, Chi-square, Spearman correlation tests were used for analyzing data.

The mean scores of AQ all subscales and the total scale of healthy adolescents were higher than adolescents with T1DM (p<0.05). Mean ISAS scores of adolescents with T1DM were higher than the healthy ones (p>0.05). The mean scores of autonomic function, social function and ISAS were positively moderately correlated with the mean scores of total aggression in both healthy and diabetic adolescents (p<0.05).

Considering the age period characteristics, training about anger-stress management and effective communication skill to adolescents and their parents may be recommended by health professionals.