Psychological evaluation of diabetic students and their families

A population of 29 diabetic school children has been studied with the purpose of evaluating the repercussion the disease has on the psychosocial development of the child. Eysenck's inventory of personality, Achembach's IPCDS and the drawing of the human figure have been employed as psychological test. The sociological aspects are valued through interviewing and questionnaires. The outstanding conclusions are: 1. Diabetes does not condition the development of a specific personality. 2. Psychiatric alterations and pathological behaviours are not present in the diabetic school child with a greater frequency than in the normal child. The most problematic is the pattern of behaviour found in preadolescent teenagers, individual cases stand out in relation to their antisocial and reserved behaviour. 3. The disease neither cuts down social life, nor does it condition the appearance of school-failure, but it does have a repercussion and a modifying effect on practical aspects of family life and the relations among its members.