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theses

Alongside the growing obesity epidemic is the average American's risk of developing type 2 diabetes. In order to manage type 2 diabetes, a patient must maintain a strict diet, exercise, and medication regimen. Adherence to these lifestyle changes is notoriously difficult, and when patients cannot successfully self manage their own diabetes-related health behaviors, their social networks sometimes become involved. Spouses often are the most proximal network member involved in diabetes management by regulating their partners' behavior, yet little is known about the implications of such involvement. Although the current literature addresses how individuals with type 2 diabetes are affected by their network members' involvement in disease management through engaging in health-related social control, the implications for individuals who engage in such attempts remain largely unexplored. Given the worry and uncertainty about short-term and long-term consequences of uncontrolled diabetes, this study seeks to examine one unexplored component of spouses' well-being related to social control, anxious feelings. Little is known about which social control tactics aimed at different adherence behaviors are particularly likely to be associated with anxious feelings; thus, this study further seeks to compare the levels of anxious feelings between individuals who exert control by physical means and those who exert control by verbal means. While no form of social control was found to be related to anxious or depressive feelings, patients' behavioral response and self-rated health did emerge as unique predictors of anxious feelings, and could indicate a more intricate picture of how social dynamics relate to mental health.

ETD_5687

M.A.

Includes bibliographical references

by John Michael Abbamonte

doi:10.7282/T3HH6H80

ETD graduate

The author owns the copyright to this work.