Adolescent Disclosure to Parents and Daily Management of Type 1 Diabetes.

Objective: To examine how adolescents' daily disclosure to parents about type 1 diabetes management may foster a process whereby parents gain knowledge and are viewed as helpful in ways that may aid diabetes management. Methods: A total of 236 late adolescents (M age = 17.76) completed a 14-day diary where they reported daily disclosure to, and solicitation from, their parents, how knowledgeable and helpful parents were, and their self-regulation failures and adherence; blood glucose was gathered from meters. Results: Multilevel models revealed that adolescent disclosure occurred in the context of greater parent solicitation and face-to-face contact and was positively associated with adolescents' perceptions of parental knowledge and helpfulness. Disclosure to mothers (but not to fathers) was associated with better diabetes management (fewer self-regulation failures, better adherence). Conclusions: Adolescent disclosure may be an important way that parents remain knowledgeable about diabetes management and provide assistance that serves to support diabetes management.

Individual differences and day-to-day fluctuations in perceived self-regulation associated with daily adherence in late adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether individual differences and intraindividual (within-person day-to-day) fluctuations in late adolescents' self-regulation were associated with daily adherence to the type 1 diabetes regimen. METHODS: 110 school seniors (M age = 17.78 years) and their mothers assessed adolescents' skills underlying self-regulation (executive function, attention, self-control, behavioral inhibition and activation, emotion regulation) and adherence, with glycosylated hemoglobin from medical records. Teens completed daily diaries reporting self-regulation failures surrounding monitoring blood glucose, adherence, and number of blood glucose checks each day for 14 days. RESULTS: Hierarchical Linear Models indicated that better daily adherence was associated with teen and mother reports of better self-regulation skills and teens' reports of fewer daily self-regulation failures. Daily adherence was unrelated to temperamental differences in behavioral inhibition and activation. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that both individual and intraindividual differences in self-regulation contribute to daily adherence highlighting the importance of daily self-regulatory challenges to adherence.