Young people with inflammatory arthritis seem to be heavily influenced by their mothers when it comes to making treatment decisions, research shows.

The study which involved interviews with 25 young adults aged 16-25 with inflammatory arthritis found that while young people said they had decisional autonomy, they relied on a cast of trusted others to provide cognitive, practical and emotional support.

“Overall the message is one of qualified autonomy, encapsulated by the recurrent expression ‘my decision…but’, ” the study authors wrote in Rheumatology.

Mothers played a prominent role and were often involved in making appointments, receiving and storing medications and in some instances administering injections.

Other people’s influence on young people’s treatment decisions may be significant without being obvious, the authors from the Newcastle University in the UK concluded.

“In promoting independent decision making, care teams should take relationships with trusted others into account,” they concluded.