[Effect of diabetes mellitus on the development of personality and behavior of children and adolescents].

A questionnaire was developed to determine the effects of being afflicted with diabetes mellitus upon the conduct and personality of juvenile type I diabetics. The following subjects were dealt with: desire for independence, feeling of being (over) protected (dependence) by the parents or their substitutes, social contact to children of the same age, social contact to adults, general mood. This questionnaire was filled out by 87 children (35 diabetics and a control group of 52 healthy children) aging 9-15 years. We did not observe any signs of a different development among diabetics, apart from their social contact to adults.