Although the association between depressive symptoms and disordered eating is well established in community samples (Ackard, et al., 2002; Cooley, et al., 2007; VanBoven & Espelage, 2006), there is a need for studies to confirm this link in adult
women populations with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes studies have confirmed this link in women with clinical eating disorders (Hillege, et al., 2008; Takii, et al., 1999; Villa, et al., 1995; Ward, et al., 1995) as well as preadolescent (Colton, Olmsted, et al., 2007) and young adolescent females (Helgeson, et al., 2009; Littlefield, et al., 1992; van den Berg, Wertheim, et al., 2002) without clinical eating disorders. In the current study, depressive symptoms experienced by young women were positively associated with their eating patterns, especially for young women with type 1 diabetes. These results extend existing evidence to a sample of Australian young women with diabetes and confirm these associations in an Australian community sample of female undergraduate students.
Post-hoc analyses revealed that depressive symptoms had a stronger influence on disordered eating patterns of the current sample of young women with type 1 diabetes compared to undergraduate females. This is the first Australian study that has
investigated the influence of depressive symptoms in the two groups and this finding might suggest that depressive symptoms as a risk factor might be more detrimental to young women with type 1 diabetes because of the implications of disordered eating being more serious. However, this finding needs to be treated with caution due to the different sample sizes for the two groups.
4.4.2 Depressive symptoms and body dissatisfaction.
There has been conflicting evidence identifying depressive symptoms as a cause (Ackard, et al., 2002; Durkin & Paxton, 2002; Franko & Omori, 1999; Franko, et al., 2005; Lee & Lee, 1996) or a consequence (Paxton, et al., 2006; Stice, 2001; Stice & Bearman, 2001; Thompson, et al., 1995) of body dissatisfaction in female populations. Findings from the current study confirm the initial hypothesis that depressive symptoms
would have a significant influence on young women’s dissatisfaction with their body. These results also provide evidence that apart from the direct pathway between
depressive symptoms and disordered eating; body dissatisfaction partially mediated the association between depressive symptoms and disordered eating thus creating an indirect pathway. These multiple pathway suggest that there is a more complex interaction
between the three variables of depressive symptoms, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating than originally hypothesized. Additional research examining depressive symptoms as both the cause and consequence of body image and eating pathology might increase understanding of the influence of depressive symptoms in young women.
In the current study, depressive symptoms in young women with diabetes were significantly associated with reported difficulty following recommended eating
schedules. These findings draw attention to an aspect in the diabetes group that has not really been explored in previous research. It alludes to the possibility that when young women with type 1 diabetes experience depressed moods, it may affect their eating patterns and attitudes even though they are not dissatisfied with their bodies. A possible explanation could be that depressive symptoms in young women with diabetes are associated with dissatisfaction that is focused more specifically on their illness or its management routines rather than specific parts of their own physical body (e.g. hips or thighs). Thus, in the current sample depressive symptoms might have negatively
impacted on young women’s ability to maintain necessary dietary regimen. These results extend the work of recent local (Kyrios, et al., 2006; Tahbaz, et al., 2006) and overseas (Ciechanowski, Katon, Russo, & Hirsch, 2003) studies that also found an association between aspects of diabetes treatment adherence including diet and depressive symptoms.
4.4.3 Depressive symptoms and diabetes management.
In the current study, diabetes management was significantly negatively associated with only one of the hypothesized risk factors i.e. depressive symptoms. Further analyses of diabetes management aspects had revealed that depressive symptoms were
significantly associated with young women not treating low blood glucose levels as recommended, and to a lesser extent young women not administering insulin at
recommended times. These findings confirm the reports from overseas studies that when women experience higher levels of depressive symptoms; they may neglect necessary aspects of diabetes management such as blood glucose monitoring (McGrady, Lafel, Drotar, Repaske, & Hood, 2009) and be at risk for developing medical complications such as retinopathy or diabetes ketoacidosis (Lawrence, et al., 2006). As discussed earlier the association between depressive symptoms and diabetes management have not been examined in samples of Australian young women although similar results have been reported in recent overseas studies (Anderson, et al., 2001; Cote, et al., 2003; Lawrence, et al., 2006; Lustman & Clouse, 2002; McGrady, et al., 2009; Tercyak, et al., 2005).
In contrast to earlier studies (Daneman, 2002; Helgeson, et al., 2009; La Greca, Swales, et al., 1995; Lawrence, et al., 2006; Lustman & Clouse, 2002), the current study did not find an association between depressive symptoms and metabolic control.
However, the longitudinal design used by Helgeson et al. (2009) revealed that the relation of depressive symptoms to poor metabolic control levels decreases as female adolescents become older. Domargard (1999) had reported a significant improvement in the
metabolic control levels of females between the ages of 18 to 22 years as compared to when they are aged between 11 to 17 years. These studies might provide support for the
lack of association between depressive symptoms and metabolic control in the current sample. The current study did find an association between poor diabetes management and higher metabolic control levels. This pathway makes theoretical sense and demonstrates a possible indirect influence of depressive symptoms on metabolic control levels through reported poor diabetes management aspects. There was no support for this mediated pathway in the current study because of the lack of association between depressive symptoms and metabolic control. Nonetheless, the absence of an association between depressive symptoms and metabolic control might be unique to the current sample and this association needs to be tested in larger Australian diabetes samples.
While numerous studies have examined risk models assessing the impact of depressive symptoms or body dissatisfaction on disordered eating, there is limited research to show the influence of perceived maternal influence or peer attachment on disordered eating. These latter risk factors have mostly been observed in combination with other risks factors in studies that involved adolescent populations and have not been examined in Australian samples of young women.