Avoidant coping moderates the relationship between paternal involvement in the child's type 1 diabetes (T1D) care and parenting stress.

Fathers may experience greater parenting stress and anxiety when they are more involved in their child's type 1 diabetes (T1D) care. The present study evaluated whether seeking social support and avoidant coping strategies moderate the relationship between paternal involvement in the child's T1D care and parenting stress in an international sample. Two hundred forty-nine fathers of young children with T1D completed the Parenting Stress Index (PSI), Pediatric Inventory for Parents (PIP), Dads' Active Disease Support scale (DADS), COPE Inventory, Self-Care Inventory (SCI-R), and a demographic questionnaire online. Pearson's product moment correlations were computed, and multiple linear regression analysis was conducted with three separate models in which the PSI Child Domain, PIP Frequency, and PIP Difficulty scores represented different parenting stress outcomes. The interaction between use of denial coping and DADS Involvement was significantly correlated with general parenting stress (p < .05). There were no significant interactions between instrumental social support and DADS Involvement; however, use of instrumental social support coping was significantly correlated with difficulty of pediatric parenting stress (p < .05), DADS Involvement (p < .001), and SCI-R better adherence to the child diabetes treatment regimen (p < .001). Avoidant coping strategies are associated with more general parenting stress, especially when fathers are more involved in T1D management.